by: Samantha Lê

Decades of crafting poems, and my drawer of words is crowded. Every time I open it, dragonflies escape. It is an artistic life, a calling that chose me from a young age. A solitaire and difficult profession with few commendations. So why be a poet? Because to be a poet is to live and work in a special way, where observations keep me connected to memories and heighten my sense of self-awareness, where the desire to improve provides me with endless lessons, and where the simplicity of finding the right word brings enjoyment, meaning and appreciation for things and experiences that are often missed by a world that’s spinning away from itself at an incomprehensible speed. These years of silent work have been cherished years; those who work this way don’t mind the solitude and lack of recognition. We’re grateful for it. It’s the kind of work that occupies a lifetime and rewards the worker with surprising discoveries and profound wonder.

Writing on the subject of being a poet, Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:

“To be an artist is this: not to count or to reckon: to ripen like a tree which does not force its sap, but in the storms of spring stands confident without being afraid that afterwards no summer may come. […] Daily I learn, learn it through my sufferings [to which I am grateful] that patience is everything.”

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Notes on Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (1875-1926)

For those interested in exploring more of Rilke’s work, this excerpt came from Letters to a Young Poet, a book I revisit often, like an old friend who reminds me of who I am and who am meant to become. This collection of ten letters were written to Franz Xaver Kappus, a young man who sought out the poet for poetic and “sympathetic understanding” (Kappus).

This book was translated by Karl-Werner “K. W.” Maurer, German translator (1905-1995).