"Live for A Living"

Live For A Living by Buddy Wakefield


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is an excellent collection of Buddy Wakefield's poems and his thought processes that lead into his poetic work. My favorite poem is "Gandhi's Autobiography." He prefaces this poem with an anecdote from his life and the sentiment of feeling like the work a writer does is never good enough. But you can't sit down and expect to create a masterpiece every time. The idea is you are writing, and eventually that will lead you to something great. Action is better than inaction. Plus, regardless of its importance or greatness, it is expression. That is priceless. The poem itself is about humility. It is about recognizing your imperfections, your demand for other people. We can't all be Gandhi, but it is a source for inspiration even if you never get there. The truth is, recognizing that you are imperfect is what creates the best, most honest works of art.

Wakefield also has an excellent love poem in this book: "Giant Saint Everything." Again this poem is about imperfections. We say forever, but can we ever really promise that? We never know what is coming next. We never want to hurt each other, but pain is an inevitable part of love and life. The important message here about love: We may not always have each other, but we will always have our memories. No one can take those away.

My other favorite poem is "The Art of Die Smilingly." I see this poem as a commentary on the human desire to be remembered, and if you haven't done anything to be remembered by, then die with a big bang. But there is something more important than this selfish desire for fame, the love that is pulling you back to earth, the love of your family. He presents these images beautifully with a flashy neon sign and a rocketing jet pack on death day. With this line he changes the poem from a show, to a feeling: "willing to bet that if you just cool your jets long enough to drop the rocket act maybe you'll feel the glory in why everything keeps pulling on you relentless, towing you all the way back home." While you are up on your high horse, looking for glory and fame and escape from responsibilities, something always brings you back. There is something to be said of the simple glory of being an important person in your loved one's life. You will always be that to them if you are true to yourself and don't become blinded by selfish endeavors. There is beauty in the little things. People appreciate more that you helped them to cook dinner than bought them a personal chef. Love is about the little things. Love is about humility and recognizing that you will never be good enough, you will never be perfect, but the people who really love you will love you anyway.

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