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The Love Behind Every Creation: Why It Matters

Aside Kate@athousandbitsofpaper24 Comments

If you don’t love what you make

You won’t look after it when times are tough

Imagine if you gave birth to your children

And didn’t love them

Didn’t love them like you would die in their place

In a second

Without a thought

Not an inkling of hesitation

Imagine what would happen to them

To be alone

They would be abandoned

Die

Now

Imagine if you loved your creations

With the same passion that you loved your children

And those creations loved you back

With the same devotion

And together you were in this intense

Utterly beautiful relationship

Imagine that

Can you?

Because so many things are made today and discarded

So many things are made for other people

With other people in mind

And then their creators wonder why they begin to hate their art

Abandon it

Abandon themselves

Try it

I never have

But I imagine it would be

Horrible

When I write poetry

Or prose like this

Or take photos of the the things I love

The rusty gate with a plastic rose

The old man’s shoulders

Faced away

Stooped

The wheeling kites

And soaring gum tree

Desert grass

Patterned wood

My loved ones

Things that break my heart

And kiss it better

So many things

The words that carry my emotions to the ether

That tumble and jostle and rhythm and rhyme

And then nothing

But a peaceful sigh

Imagine

If I hated what I created

Instead of loving it as I do

Do you think your creator hates you?

Well

For godsake

Stop worrying what you create

Has anything to do with

Anyone else’s hate

And everything to do with what

you

love

And then just

Go to work

And get it done

**

I’ve got a book coming out in August – it’s not a poetry book, though I love my poetry dearly.

This is another labour of love entirely. It’s called The Figment and it’s about a little being called Stripy. I can’t wait. I have carried this book a long time, I have loved it fussed over it and agonised over letting it go.

I’m on the last tweaks. And I’m glad for all the butchery of chapters, the crumpled up papers. The times that I drifted in doubt wondering if this is any good, am I deluded?

My editor told me I should pitch it to some publishers, he told me it’s great, wonderful, a few other superlatives. It was nice. Other respected folk have also said really lovely things.

But I’ll be self publishing because it’s mine. I want to box it with journals for the kids that read it. I want to package it with other things. I’m an artisan author. I’ve seen what some of them do – and that’s me too.

It won’t be a bestseller because it probably won’t have that sort of exposure. But I want to go to schools and give talks on imagination and I want to place it into the hands of a child with shiny eyes – just once, and all of my work will be nourished. And I’ll make another one.

Another creation, and I’ll love it too.

I was born a mother. My children are my greatest creations but now they have lives of their own, it’s my time to create art.

And I intend to make things just as loved and beautiful as my children.

Big call.

Best get back to it

By the way if this is a topic that inspires you, please read the seminal work of Rick Rubin The Creative Act

Also – sorry but I forgot to mention and it’s very important – this poem was inspired by a discussion with author Steve Hawe and his book My Time of Eagles.

Steve believed passionately in his book and he carried it through droughts and the dissolution of his marriage.

His book did not have a proper launch or a good start in the world because life stepped in and made it incredibly difficult for Steve to properly support it at the critical time just after publishing – yet he persisted and picked it up and is having another go now. I’ll give a full review and share a bit more about Steve down the track, once I’ve had a chance to read this very well loved book. In the meantime you can check it out here

SubStack Journal No. 6 will post on Sunday morning, I’m just polishing off the last few sentances now as I’ll be travelling those long roads home on Sunday. You will find it here

Love

24 thoughts on “The Love Behind Every Creation: Why It Matters”

  1. I meant to ask you, i’ve read your substack pieces and they are absolutely wonderful. is there are reason you like to post there too? is there more engagement there than in wp?

    awesome to know your book is about to be published, congratulations! and i can’t wait to hear about how its received . Mike

    Reply

    • Substack is like a hollow log to be honest Michael, and I don’t have a lot of time to spend creating community although there are some wonderful writers and I read their pieces.

      I’ve thought about why I write in two places and I think it is because I’m kind of two writers. This blog has been my poetry blog for a long time – although there’s a lot of pieces on here which aren’t poetry anymore but I have community here.

      SubStack was supposed to be a different animal as it can have notes and a newsletter. I don’t use notes as much as I thought I would because they feel twitterish. But I like the discipline of writing a once a week dedicated roundup newsletter.

      But now I’m in the middle of deciding whether to move my newsletter so it comes directly from my website.

      I think some writers do well on Substack but they are usually the ones that are dropping notes ten to twenty times a day and have more ten steps to cure your procrastination, how to get seen and find 100 first subscriber type posts – or they have come to Substack with 500 followers from medium or have hit a chord with a particular post and then go viral. I will never go viral I’m too niche – and while I am all hats off to their persistence – I find I can’t have the experience (travel and meeting people) do the work (writing and photography) and then share the work at the same time as talking non stop about how to do the work. Does my head in.

      But there is something I like about the newsletter experience – may move it to my own website though and then cook up a plate of virtual scones and a big pot of tea and invite people there on a Sunday instead 😂 gosh this was nearly a newsletter of a reply – sorry!

      Reply

      • i enjoyed reading it Kate. i was always curious about substack as it seems to be the choice for a lot of younger people. i have come to a similar conclusion about the platform as well as other platforms where virality trumps the algorithm instead of content; it’s a consolidation game and the wealth of followers are transplanted in from other social media platforms. an organic following, at least in the context of time, is not feasible.

        if you do move your newsletter here, it’ll be a wonderful addition to an already comprehensive site!

  2. Absolutely yes to this! I love the passion and energy in this piece and have long felt like my poems are like children, showing up in their own way, with their own personalities. We nurture for a bit, then let them, out into the world. I can imagine, yes! ✨ Love this, Kate.

    Reply

  4. do it, Kate, go to schools; I was a high school teacher and did poetry gigs in schools ; if your work is pitched at their level they will lap it up; a beautiful poem by the way; and like you, I love and respect my creations, my poems; we are blessed with the gift of writing, of having a creative outlet—

    Reply

  5. People will never stop creating, and we benefit from it all, hopefully for the good.

    Your poem, Kate, speaks of how you adore your children and your loving heart.

    Keep creating beautiful pieces, and all the best with your upcoming book.

    Reply

  6. This is a wonderful poem Kate 🤝 This poem is a powerful meditation on love, creation, and devotion. It urges creators to pour their hearts into their work, treating it with the same fierce love as a parent does their child. The raw emotion and vivid imagery—rusty gates, stooped shoulders, wheeling kites—make the message visceral. The closing lines are a defiant call to create for yourself, not for others’ approval. A stirring reminder that true art comes from passion, not fear.

    Reply

    • Thank you for sharing your thoughtful response Srikanth, and for reading and taking it on board and yes art comes from passion not fear – a lovely way to think of it – hasn’t the world got that backwards at the moment?

      Reply

  7. Nice piece of reflective poetry Kate. The love we feel for each and every one of our creations can return to us in a deeper sense of self-worth and pride in who we are. Enjoy your writing!

    Reply

  10. This is a beautiful poem and it definitely resonates. Sometimes it is too easy to forget our creations, maybe not hate, at least not for me, but just go on to the next project. Thanks for reminding me that everything we create has the value that comes from our heart. Would love to read your book about Stripy!

    Reply

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