The written word made manifest …Maktoob مكتوب

What I love about Art, is that is reaches beyond the ordinary and gives us an experience that is so pure, so genuine and charged with meaning, that it moves us to the core of our being.  This is the Eternal beauty of Art.  And this article is the short story of how an obscure, mostly unappreciated, posthumously published poem of long ago inspires another Artist to take these written words and make the Poetic vision manifest 100 years later.  This is how Art moves me.  This is a thing of Beauty …~ always.  

At lunch I read the poem ‘Maktoob’ by Alan Seeger and was immediately inspired to make his very words come to life.  As an Artist, we feel too much, we care too much, we hurt, we feel for all life,  our Empathetic system is always on and tuned in to life.  It can be maddening,  but we wouldn’t have it any other way.  There is no other way.  We would accept no less the sorrows than the joys that are a part of experience.

..’And if I have wept it is because, forsaken, I have felt, perhaps more poignantly than some,…all the blank Eternity from which we awaken… and all the blank Eternity to come’ ~ Alan Seeger

These words Alan wrote knocked the breath out of me, nearly falling to my knees as if I remembered it from a dream,  This was the feeling that resided without words, somewhere, but always there, always.  Just in the background even through happy moments.  These very words of his gave form to that feeling, that feeling.  We know when that Artistic Inspiration needs realization, to be honoured and given form to help sooth others or just for its own sake.  It begs for expression, for release….

خلق السحر من خلال الفن

 

Maktoob ! “‘Tis written!”…

{excerpt from ‘Maktoob’ by Alan Seeger}

That very day I would be wearing that ring that I made honoring the words of Alan Seeger written 100 years ago.  I am extremely grateful to Alan and his Artistic Genius.  His courage, his compassion and his character all come shining through in his thoughts and beautiful emotive Poetry.   I am grateful his thoughts were written and that his writing was preserved; and in that, … the written Word, … Alan Seeger will live forever…

a wax ring I carved and inscribed.. with ‘Maktoob’

a wax ring I carved and inscribed with ‘Maktoob’….~’ tis Written’

 

مكتوب ‘Maktoob’… ‘It is written’…

هو مكتوب … يتم إنشاؤه وجعل الكلمة المكتوبة واضح من خلال الفن

Read the poem ‘Maktoob’ right here, right now ~ http://archive.org/stream/poems00seeg#page/140/mode/2up

And to get a feeling of the overarching resonance and meaning this simple phrase has in regard to Alan’s philosophy and feelings, it is important to read the entire book.  Alan when he took up arms against tyranny in defense of Freedom and Liberty for the country he loved, he felt no regret nor ever complained, it was no small decision..but perhaps the conscript of Destiny.

As Artists,…as human beings…we need connection and meaning.  It is our joyful responsibility to seek out other inspiring Art and people and to study the work, absorb the meanings, to learn, to grow and to share it with others.  If you love Love.  Read Alan Seeger’s  Poetry.  You’ll be glad you did.  Then share it with a friend.

Alan Seeger I admire immensely.  He is an absolute genius Poet, a soldier, a patriot, a Romantic and a Hero that lived as Poetically as he wrote.  His story and personal letters are as compelling and moving as his Poems.  Alan is ‘that blessed pilgrim of a vow fulfilled’

In order to fully understand the scope and breadth of the meaning here it is important to read the full story of Alan Seeger and his poems.  If you are looking to connect with something meaningful and moving, do yourself a favor and take the time to read the book Alan Seeger Poems available free in the Online Archive.  { Alan Seeger Poems archive link here ~ http://archive.org/stream/poems00seeg#page/n0/mode/2up } 

أنا أحبك البقاء مستوحاة! ~ ريا

Stay inspired…

Quinten Rhea

//