Dying Medium?

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it’s you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood. -“I Do Not Love You” by Pablo Neruda

Theatre, Poetry, Classical Music…Each of these at one time or another were dominant cultural mediums. Take Pablo Neruda for example, the great Nobel Prize-Winning Chilean poet. He regularly filled soccer stadiums with his recitations. Imagine the scene…thousands of people standing and cheering and belting out lines of poetry at the top of their lungs. Yes, that did happen.

Now all these mediums are more niche.

You can’t control what you love, what inspires you, what lights you up–for me it was seeing tiny storefront theatre in Chicago–nor should you care if that medium is popular.

All you can and should do is listen to your heart. Dare to dream. Be courageous.

And go make your art.

P.S. – Check out this great article about Neruda’s Nobel Prize Winning acceptance speech.