The Deceiving Idea
William Shakespear, 70/100 dessins abstraits, 2024 by T.R. Koubois
It’s the last page of the notebook
so I’ll put it all in:
choppings and trimmings,
scrapings and peelings
at a ratio of seventy five to twenty five
brown to green
and just let it all rot down.
It’s been twenty four years, so what’s another two?
and something useful and good will become of me:
I will nourish and sustain once again.
It’s not waste,
at least not in the traditional sense.
Nearly a quarter of a century of goodness has accumulated
and the left bits have a richness
But at this moment in the year,
with all the energy drawn down and under for replenishment;
this dark point of reflection forced a shedding
so the new year’s journey will start light and fleet.
A way clear for some good northing.
This has been the deceiving idea.
Notes for interpretation: The Deceiving Idea is a notion I have borrowed from Nick Cave in conversation with Sean O’Hagan (Faith, Hope and Carnage, 2022). If I remember correctly, it refers to old, well trod material you unconsciously (and probably inevitably) bring into the creative act at the start of the process. Often leftovers and cold cuts from previous output, it masquerades as new material, but this is a deception. It has a place in the process - this content needs to be drawn out before new work can emerge - but you must be alert to it and act accordingly. I have super-paraphrased here (and resisted the call to dip back in the book to clarify) so I apologise to NC and SO’H if I’m a little off beam.