Reading’s labor
9 January 2009
Every encounter with a new artist requires us to learn anew how to read, how to listen. This is true even — perhaps especially — if they write in our ‘native’ language. Thus, reading any work well takes time, discipline, desire, love — love more than all and any. Without love, you will rush; without love, you will never see the matter and the mirth in the language; without love, you will waste your time in trying to save it. If it takes ten years to read a work you love, then so be it. Let me say again for all who come near — in this as in all things, it’s all about love, and love is a matter of labor through time.
— Thomas of Endlessly Rocking