I'm always astounded by talented people. I mean, truly talented people, not Britney Spears or David Spade or even Janet Jackson (who,
pre- Super Bowl at least, was taken as a quasi-serious artist).. No, I'm talking about truly talented individuals.
Writers or authors can implant within me a feeling of awe and, at times, gut-wrenching envy. Dan Brown... when The DaVinci Code came out, I wanted to kill Dan Brown. How could one guy, one unheard of guy, write such an incredible story? ....
Mya Angelou, Harper Lee, e.e. cummings, Percy Shelley, W.H. Auden.... How could these people even exist? I read their stuff and it just perfectly embodies something that I feel or think and I'll just hate them for expressing it so well. It kind of feels as if they've stolen something from me. By expressing my emotion so perfectly, better even than I could have, I feel robbed. It's as if they've chipped away a little piece of my soul and sucked it into the page. It's like that feeling, that high you get when you first read a really great book and yet you hate the fact that you'll never be able to get that high off of the same book again. Simply because that high has been sucked into the pages, to rest forever between the lines, suspended in chapters...
Even though a good amount of my awe, and a considerable amount of my jealousy, goes to writers, the grand portion of my wonderment is stored for singer/songwriters. Because you see, it's not enough for the person to have a good singing voice. After all, plenty of people can sing. It's when they have the entire package. When they can sing, write lyrics
and write music. It is at this point that I am floored. How can so much talent be crammed into one little person... or two or three..? It doesn't seem fair to me. These people are so effortless in the way they let go. They let go in a way I never can and don't think I ever could. They are unashamed... brave... highly tuned... effortlessly raw and uninhibited... Everything I am in my loneliest hours....
These are the people who breathe for me....
Jason Mraz John MayerRob ThomasDave Matthews BandJewel__________________________________________________________________________
If room enough for both my drowsy spirit shall fall
Bold waves tumble to the season of my heart
Where you have offended my faith and my trust
Until all is lost into the beauty of the day... -Layla