Steal Like an Artist is a great little book that encourages us to take plenty of time to get inspired, to get our hands dirty (literally), and to get down to the work of being artists. I could tell you about the book, that it inspires us to follow our passions even if they’re not directly related to our work, that it reminds us to play with language and music and paint, that it refrains from telling us too much and gives us just enough to get recharged and inspired.
But instead, I thought I’d follow the book’s advice and do a little stealing of my own. I took the inspiration that came to me today (in this case, in the form of an email from my sister linking to a website of Bob Ross quotes) and remixed it into a found poem (author Austin Kleon’s first book, Newspaper Blackout, is a volume of found poetry) about the book Steal Like an Artist, and about art itself. Hope you like it! If not, as Bob Ross (who’s also listed as an inspiration in the book by Kleon) says, “That’s okay. Thaaaat’s just okay.”
Clouds Are Very Free: A found poem/book review by Carrie Rollwagen
Here’s your bravery test!
We don’t know where it goes. We don’t really care.
Just go straight in like you’re going to stab it
And barely touch it … barely touch it.
Any time ya learn, ya gain.
Any way you want it to be, that’s just right.
People might look at you a bit funny, but it’s okay
Artists are allowed to be a bit different
We want happy paintings, happy paintings.
If you want sad things, watch the news — oh, you’d be in Agony City.
We’re gonna make some big decisions in our little world
And just beat the devil out of it.
Clouds are very, very free.
They can’t fly, but they don’t know that, so they still try.
Carrie Rollwagen is co-owner and book buyer at Church Street Coffee & Books, an independent bookstore and coffee shop in Birmingham, Alabama.