When I was first started my journey as an “artist,” I picked up this book by Rainer Maria Rilke called Letters to a Young Poet (one of my favorites). One of the things that Rilke mentions to the poet is:
“Don’t write love poems; avoid those forms that are too facile and ordinary: they are the hardest to work with, and it takes great, fully ripened power to create something individual where good, even glorious, traditions exist in abundance.”
I completely agree. And this is where my great friend Olu Burrell comes in. His work is great and his words on love are unlike anything I’ve read before. Take a look at one of his pieces.
The Four-Letter World
by Olu Burrell
I’ve taken the liberty
Of placing my heart
In your grasp’s captivity
Allowing me
To fall heart-first
Into this four-letter world
Called L-O-V-E
And now I just want to return the favor
Of the one who causes me
Such sensations
As the pitter-pattering of my heart
— A direct result of my cheeks’ inflammation
(In other words, you make me blush)
I’d rather be a scream from your consciousness
Than to part from your touch
So what is the rush?
I want to know if there is a possibility of “you”
And “I”
Becoming an “us”
If so, then please let me know
Because I am the type of brotha’
Who believes that talk is cheap
Unless you are hosting a show
So I’ll show you
Verbally
And hopefully by the end of my confession
I will leave you deep in a state that
You’d only otherwise reach
Herbally
Oh, undeserving me…
Read the rest at NPR.
Copyright 2009 by Olutosin Burrell. All Rights Reserved.
Olu & his fiance Farran
