The Hunger
@chipesterkhan (2925)
Philippines
July 20, 2011 12:10am CST
They say to be a real artist you have to starve. There was a time in my life where I did starve. Not anymore, I've been fortunate enough to have a great job and a great Dad. With the hunger gone, so has most of the passion and drive to succeed artistically. So I've submitted myself to voluntary starvation several times just to get that feeling back. It'll never be as real as my past experience but it brings back memories and inspiration to create something from nothing.
Create something from nothing
An impossible feat with a stomach filled with food that's ready to eat
So I sit here fighting
The urge to buy or cook food, I smell the neighbor's food instead
The hunger is killing me
But it's feeding me with inspiration...
With every rumble my stomach emits
A poem is written, a song is finished
So what happens now?
What if I succeed?
Why does art demand such sacrifices?
Why must we forgo success in order to succeed?
As ulcer threatens to set in
I continue...
I am so hungry...
I must not give in...
1 person likes this
5 responses
@NoWayRo (1061)
• Romania
20 Jul 11
Well, I consider myself to be a bit of an artist, only that my field of creativity is cooking... so no, I can't really go hungry for my art, or I'd end up thinking that anything you throw in the pan is good to eat 
Your discussion reminded me of a novel called Hunger by Knut Hamsun. Check it out if you have the chance, it's about how hunger teaches you to do things 
Your discussion reminded me of a novel called Hunger by Knut Hamsun. Check it out if you have the chance, it's about how hunger teaches you to do things 1 person likes this
@chipesterkhan (2925)
• Philippines
20 Jul 11
i'll check it out!
I'm on my way out to grab a bite to eat and get a few books.
Starving is a bit too intense on the senses.
@toniganzon (72285)
• Philippines
20 Jul 11
Great poem. I love it. I used to write poems myself when i was a teenager. I wrote poems for friends and about my frustrations. I never went hungry for food but i was hungry for love because i was orphaned at 13. That made me poetic.
1 person likes this
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
20 Jul 11
Well, to be an artist, and to be a good one, or a great one, you have to put every ounce of yourself into your art. This means that you have to live, eat, sleep and breath your craft.
When I used to sing, I did just that. I put everything into it. Everything I did was about singing and about music. You have to put everything that you have into it.
Now that I am an English Lit major, I put everything that I have into that. I love reading, and I love writing, and I love coming up with concepts for stories or writing poems. I have one about my brother in the works right now. You have to make your craft, your life. You have to put yourself into it. If that means that you have to starve to do it, then do what you have to do because it will be worth it in the end.
@celticeagle (158606)
• Boise, Idaho
20 Jul 11
I don't think you have to starve to be an artist it is just that most do. I think many of us could do with eating less. Spend more time on writing or drawing or whatever and less on eating and we would all be better off. We have it too easy now days. I don't think inspiration comes from starving.
1 person likes this
