THE WORLD AND HOW TO SURVIVE IT
He said “Great pain brings great art”
and I said “I don’t know, maybe.”
But I hope not.
He was a twat who talked a lot
about creation but seldom created.
His mom owned a small bank.
I didn’t even know
people owned banks.
I seldom talked
but wrote endlessly.
He said “I’m serious”
and I said “I know you are.”
The world is filled with pain
regardless of art
and while there are a lot
of creative people
there are very few artists
because the equation
for what makes an artist
is more complex than physics
a problem that will never
be solved, thankfully
though I think on it everyday
because I love so much
the art that has passed
through my life
poems and paintings
and photographs
memoirs and essays and songs
and novels filled with stories
written so vividly your head
becomes a projector
the kind used
by Vittorio de Sica
who said
“I lost all my money
on these films
but I’m glad
to lose it this way.”
Dave Newman is the author of eleven books, including Dope and Vodka and Cigarettes, and Not Shaving Her Legs (Roadside, 2026), Better Than the Best American Poetry (Roadside Press, 2025), and the essay collection How to Live Like Li Po in Pittsburgh (J.New Book, 2023). He lives in Trafford, PA, the last town in the Electric Valley.
