Sometimes you have to make a complete disaster of your life in such an epic way that it will be absolutely clear to you what you’ve been doing.
Category Archive: David Whyte
Without the compassionate understanding of the fear and trepidation that lie behind courageous speech, we are bound only to our arrogance.
It is the province of poetry to be more realistic and present than the artificial narratives of an outer discourse, and not afraid of the truthful difficulty of the average human life.
We learn, grow and become compassionate and generous as much through exile as homecoming, as much through loss as gain, as much through giving things away as in receiving what we believe to be our due.
A good poem looks life straight in the face, unflinching, sincere, equal to revelation through loss or gain.
Honesty is grounded in humility and indeed in humiliation, and in admitting exactly where we are powerless.
I believe that human beings are desperate, always, to belong to something larger than themselves.
Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can’t be used for manipulation; it’s why you never see good poetry in advertising.
Honesty allows us to live with not knowing. We do not know the full story; we do not know where we are in the story. We do not know who, ultimately, is at fault or who will carry the blame in the end.
Things have a way of being richer in the end, a product better made, for the circuitous route we take to include all the elements that are necessary for a job well done.