The Poetry of a Life Well Lived
Creating art that inspires you to inspire others
The first time I heard Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, I felt a vibration deep in my chest, like a massive tuning fork being struck by a steel mallet. It filled my mind with awe, my heart with joy, and my eyes with tears.
When your tuning fork vibrates, listen up.
A piece of music rarely has this kind of effect on me. But when it does, I pay attention, for it tells me something about myself. If that tuning fork vibrates, my core values and principles have been struck. That vibrating tuning fork indicates the presence of my Voice with a capital V.
My Voice is who I am. When I let it speak, I thrive. When I suppress it or compromise it, I suffer. It’s that easy.
It’s not only music that shines a light on the nature of my Voice — dance, photography, painting, theater, and the magnificence of the natural world all can have the same effect. And every time it happens, I write it down in my journal.
The more light you shine on your Voice, the easier it is to see.
Sharing Your Voice is a Poetic Act
I spent decades telling my Voice to be patient — I would let it speak when I was ready. I taught thousands of students — from first graders to flight students in the Navy and while I know I made a difference in many of their lives, I was compromising my own life. Not any longer.
I have loved writing since I was in elementary school. Some people feel the gravitational pull of music, dance, or painting, but for me, it was unmistakably writing.
If you watch a concertmaster gracefully moving her bow across the strings of her violin, you will see the face of someone listening to her Voice. Her tuning fork is vibrating with maximum intensity. Can you imagine her doing anything else?
Her Voice is a poetic act.
I don’t have a violin — I only have my tuning fork, ideas, and this laptop. But that’s all I need to set my Voice free. If you are a writer, that’s all you need as well. A writer can manifest emotions as poetically as a violinist.
A writer can manifest emotions as poetically as a violinist.
Using your tuning fork as a compass
This idea of a tuning fork works for me because they only vibrate at a specific frequency — the frequency of my Voice. When that tuning fork refuses to vibrate, I know I am in the presence of something destructive and turn the other way. Here’s an example.
Yesterday, I read a well-written piece by a prominent online author who told the story of a middle-aged man who lost his son to a tragic disease. At the end of this story I was fully expecting to read a tribute to this father and his son. Or a plea to donate to a charity.
That’s not how it ended.
He finished with a link to a product he was selling. He used writing to exploit a man’s suffering to make money. My tuning fork did not vibrate. That is not music to my ears.
Choreographing a tapestry
The poetry of a well-lived life is about choreographing a tapestry of experiences and creative works that consistently cause your tuning fork to resonate with joy. You will produce ripples in a pond that others will feel. Not everyone will feel it, but some will.
You don’t create art for the entire world — only those who need it.
When I was teaching, I was frequently coerced and threatened by administrative personnel to do things that were contrary to my values. I turned my back on those values, suppressed my Voice, and did things I regret — out of fear of losing my job. That is no way to live a remarkable life.
Deciding to live a poetic life
You may have made similar decisions in your life. You, too, prioritized paying your bills rather than prioritizing your inner Voice. And you suffered as a result. I learned about the folly of living like this rather unexpectedly.
In the summer of 2022, I lost my mother to leukemia. At her funeral, I had this stunning moment of clarity, looking down at her body in repose in her casket, that my Voice was the only thing that truly mattered. And if I didn’t listen to and share it, I would vanish from this world, having never truly lived.
To hell with that.
We all live on a tiny planet in a small galaxy amidst billions of others. In the words of the astronomer Carl Sagan,
“We are all made of stardust.”
We are too insignificant in the grand scheme of things to take ourselves too seriously. Realizing this truth sets you free.
The writer and photographer Guy Tal believes that all artists, including writers, must always create works that make themselves better human beings. If you follow that mandate, you will undoubtedly help others do the same.
Create great works of art that make you a better human being.
The ultimate prize
I’m not a millionaire, nor do I have a massive online empire, but I have something much more valuable.
Clarity.
I know the music I want to create with my writing and the emotions I want to evoke in readers. I want to do with my writing what Copland did with Fanfare for the Common Man.
I have a lot of work to do, but I will enjoy every minute of it.
What causes your heart, soul, and inner Voice to tremble with excitement and joy? Create art that vibrates with that same frequency.
And then share it. In the words of Rick Rubin,
Sharing art is the price you pay for making it.
And sharing your art is the surest way to design a poetic life, a life well lived.
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