Why I Write?

Why do I write?
Do? Why I write!
I do write, why?
I do! Why write?

This is a question we ask all the members of "The Holding Pond" . Up until now it is also one I have managed to avoid. There is a very good reason for that: I quite like being popular.

Why would my answer make me fear becoming unpopular? Well, not everyone likes a cocky bastard who tweaks the nipples of the Venus Di Milo, polishes the pate of Shakespeare and draws a Hitler mustache on Emily Dickinson.

I write to subvert. To enrage. To piss about. To mock institutions. To abuse the English Language (actually, quite inadvertently). To amuse myself, and because I am compelled to do so.

Compulsion is an artist's inner drive, the power of volition. Genuine artists feel compelled to practice their art in order to fulfill themselves or to find harmony in existence. They aren't happy unless they can create, and sometimes not even then.

~Sam Smiley, 'The Structure of Action'

A good friend once told me that in order for Picasso's painting to look so shite, the guy had to learn to be a master first. That's the beauty of being a prat; when folk don't take you seriously you can make some pretty serious points. I'm a huge fan of jesters; like any coin with two sides, they can be wonderfully silly, or clever, witty, and terribly astute. A lot of the time if you give a person enough rope they hang themselves. I like to think the fella who passed them the rope was grinning as he did so; the inclusion of bells and a daft hat are a given.

I'm also a voracious History fan and am proud of the British legacy of 'buffoonery', whether in literature (look at Falstaff in Henry IV), architecture (obscene gargoyles in the most austere cathedrals), and theatre (panto! http://www.limelightscripts.co.uk/scripts/history.htm)

A little bit of Shakespeare never hurt:
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/hamlet.5.1.html

Whether beautiful or grotesque, buffoonery or melodrama, writing gives me an artistic canvas to explore the human condition, provoke reaction and allow the reader to examine their own responses, thoughts and ideas through my writing. Oh, and they might let a little fart escape by chortling once in a while

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4120607.stm

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