Friday, July 20, 2018

Getting Down With A Poem Commission

By Timothy Allen


There are certain things that make life a little bit sweeter. Music, art, literature. All of them are called the humanities because they are the foundation of what it means to be human. True, they are not necessary for living. But they do make living a little bit better. But not everyone has the skill for it. Everyone has to capacity to enjoy it, but not necessarily the capacity to create it. So they can them try a poem commission.

A poem is a series of verses. They are not necessarily rhyming, though most people think they do. But there is a structure to them. A series of couplets that flow together.

An art commission is a transaction of the economic variety. A client wants some art. So they find themselves an artist. The client pays the artist some money, and then the artist creates some art and then gives it to the client. This was how many of the old masters honed their skills and put food in their bellies.

Art is commissioned for numerous reasons. In the olden days, the great masters of the Renaissance were commissioned to create portraits of their patrons. This was done because the patrons were brought up their whole lives to be rich and noble, to do things that aristocrats did, not to be as lowly as an artisan. So they had no talent for it.

There is only one singular purpose to a poem. That is to create. To make people think. To be heard and read, and then to make the people doing that hearing and reading feel something. Even if it just the tiniest sliver of emotion, it is enough. That is the purpose of prose, to create an emotion not previously felt in the immediate past. It can inspire or it can demoralize, but the fact is that it has to make someone emotional to some small degree.

The thing about poets, and other artists, is that they may not be readily available. The best place to find them in many cafes, but not chain cafes. Independent cafes with open mic nights are the best bet. As are college campuses. Of course, there is always the internet, where many of the younger creative types can be found.

There is such a thing as the starving artist. But no one wants to be that. When someone creates something, some form of work, they want to be paid for it. Now, a commission is explicitly about payment. A client hires someone to create something in exchange for a monetary fee. This fee can vary based on a number of factors. Chief among them will be the level of experience.

Of course, there must be a level of skill on the part of the poet. Anyone can string words together. Anyone can put words together that rhyme. But not everyone can put the words together in a way that can break and mend hearts, put the rhymes together until the very core of a person in totally moved.

The world can be bland. Humanity can see that it is. So it created its way out of blandness.




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