Earn like Eliot
There are two ways to be a wealthy poet. You can be born rich, like Lord Byron. Or earn a living like T.S. Eliot, who hunched over a desk in the City of London.
Engage like Haring
“I live every day as if it were the last.” You sure did, Keith Haring. You left colourful, boogying figures on the walls.
Shoot like Cartier-Bresson
A gun doesn’t make a hunter. And having a Leica camera with a 50mm lens won’t turn me into Henri Cartier-Bresson. I lack the killer instinct. (For now.)
Invest like Peggy Guggenheim
She called herself the poor Guggenheim. But that was only true because her cousins inherited more than she did. She’d get revenge.
Thresholds
A ticking watchAt 20 feet. A bead of perfumeIn a honeymoon suite. An insect wing,Against your cheek. A candle,One town over.
Love like Frank O’Hara
“Personism, a movement which I recently founded and which nobody knows about, interests me a great deal…” If O’Hara was poking fun, it came from a place of love.
Stall
Canary Wharf persuades youPeople can get busy in all directions,But the woman cramming bagels,Wedging salt beef between gherkins,She points directly – right through.
Invasive thoughts
The news is of tunnels.Rabbits burrow through walls.In my bedroom, they recur like dreams.There are many, so many.Something’s wrong with their bellies.Whole warrens are swollen and sore.You’ve seen them on maps (nests clumped in dim corners),In photographs (eyes limned with debris,Plastered with ears and daring assistance).Their heart is a home is a hole.
Pop like Andy Warhol
Anyone can be famous for 15 minutes. That’s the promise in Andy Warhol’s paintings, films and books. He became a celebrity. You can too.
Pour emotion like Don Norman
Like William Morris before him, Don Norman is a designer who prizes both beauty and practicality. It’s a stance writers can learn from.