ADVICE
FROM PHILIP my constant
teacher
or,
writing to the best Correspondent in the Whole Wild World
20 July 1962
"Poetry is what we do ... you liked Wittgenstein's
idea of 'doing philosophy' ... poetry is the same."
5th October 1962
"Yes it
does take nerve, to let people see what you have written, have
them hear what you are saying, all of us are` ignorant & tied
down to the wheels of anguish and repetition... I write & people
read it & they can say, why that old phoobie is as silly & dopie
as we are... but those who say so enjoy reading it & had
not the energy or discipline or nerve to write it down for
themselves & so
they have no choice except to read me or Pascal or Melville,
none of us much good but exceedingly charming & foolish
men & that
is literature. Or something. I get a kick out of writing. On
days it isn't fun I do something else."
9 April 1963
31 January '63
"I am not
at the moment in a rage but could possibly fly into one at any moment
if it would amuse you."
