A little while ago I spent some (okay, way too much) time debating an episode of the West Wing on a popular website. The episode, entitled The U.S. Poet Laureate included a story line about...well the U.S. Poet Laureate. (Oh, and Aaron, that whole violent death thing that is becoming a theme in TWW season finales; stop it. You've exceeded your body count, this isnt the Practice for goodness sakes. When you killed off Simon, C.J.'s own Special Secret Service Man, hand to my DVD player, I had a couple of violent fantasies of mine own) One of the hotly debated subjects was based on a statement made by one of Sorkin's characters the Laureate (played by Laura Dern) made regarding the obligation of the artist. She said, "An artist's job is to captivate you for however long weve asked for your attention. If we stumble into truth we got lucky. And I don't get to decide what truth is." Thus began an endless fight about the nature of Art, artists and what constitutes and artist's duty.

I've heard a few ideas on the subject. Some say that artists have no obligation except to themselves.  Others, that the obligation is to Beauty or to the medium they serve. I don't have the right answer to this question ( you know how crazy that makes me) just an impression. So this is what has been floating around my brain for the past little while:

There is a part of my psyche that really sings to Keat's whole: 'Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty' ideal.

However, ruminating on my earlier scribblings makes me realize that the sheer volume of material makes it unlikely that every word reflects Truth with a silver bugle. But, the longer I write and think about art (with a capital 'A') the more I feel that truth (you know, with a capital 'T') is not where an artist necessarily begins.  I think we often start with a little truth, or more accurately,  an ideal. Something that we imagine is true or should be true or feels true at the time. 

When I am writing something my main goal is not to expose you to Truth. It is to reach you in a way that makes you see what I see and feel what I feel, to question what I question.  And sometimes, in the process of exploring these ideals, we stumble onto Truth, you know, Truth with a silver bugle. 

If an artist is very good, that happens more than sometimes.   My goal is to reach you.  My dream is that my ideal exposes you to a heretofore unrealized or underappreciated universal Truth.