The energising effects of anger....

A very good, and much underated poet and artist, Joolz Denby once wrote "It takes control to be angry, you must be precise, grip the twisting screaming thing each day and leash it tight, otherwise you burn up inside and nothing gets done, you die". I spent a long time listening to Ms. Denbys poetry, backed by Justin Sullivan of New Model Army, and I must confess, at the time, as an angry young man her words made my blood race and my anger simmer more than a little. What I learned from this period was that anger was not in itself destructive or creative. Anger is simply a force, it drives the mind and body by triggering neuro-chemical changes and the related physiological changes associated with that. For me, as my awareness of my own anger grew, the realisation dawned that whether the anger was destructive, or constructive was at root a choice that I could make internally. Without concious effort on my part my anger appears to be, by deafult destructive, but but a focused effort of will I can channel that same anger into creativity and energy.

This discovery was something of a revelation, and although I am by no means perfect at controlling my anger. particularly when it spills over into rage, I am a lot better than I was, and the change it has made has been marked. It is an ongoing project, but as my Gran used to say, the day you stop learning and growing is the day you go in the ground, so I'm happy with my progress so far, and happy that I have more progress to go. This may all sound pretty obvious stuff, but sometimes it takes the genius of an artist to allow you to see the obvious. Maybe that is the "true" genius of the artists, taking the mundane, the profane, the every-day and making it special, making it art, transforming it into something with meaning, with a message, with relevance.

I don't profess to be any sort of expert on art and artistry, or on the artistic mindest, being personally as creative as a fairly short blank, but just occasionally something resonates with me, and if, by sharing my insights, someone else can benefit, then that makes me a happy boy......Oh, and a quick plug, Joolz writes some great books and creates some beautiful tattoos too......have a look at her website, I'm pretty sure she won't mind :)