I am an Artist (yes capital A, sue me) and I have lived most of my life in an alternate universe of Artists, be they musicians, poets, painters, playwrights, the list goes on, in my universe the art is never transactional, making money is a delightful side effect should it happen, but it is never the goal, nor is fame and all the glittery trappings of success, though some of my fellow travelers achieve that as well.

So I am and have always been, pretty poor.

Sometimes making a reasonable living (I am fortunate that some of the stuff I do brings in a bit of bucks) (I am also fortunate to have two great Patrons, Athena and Shaun, take a million bows) sometimes, it’s a bit of a struggle, but hey every tiny bit of that struggle is worth it.
If you do it right and care for the fellow artists in your universe, you are, by default, all the time, the richest guy, or gal in the entire world.

I have run (and started) theatres, nightclubs, produced plays for other writers, and found work for actors to be in MY plays, acted and sang and generally got up there, and helped get thousands of bands heard across the globe. (This isn’t boasting, I solemnly swear its true my lord)

And again, in spite of that, I have always been, pretty poor.

And yet.

Like so many of my fellow travelers, I have made a difference. Changed peoples’ lives for the better, given the gift of hope, and that is why I will never, ever stop, being this kinda fool

The richest guy in the world.

I got a comment from an old friend for one of my poems on this new blog (I am not as well as I used to be, so now I am ‘just’ a damn fine poet, which reminded me how blessed I am.
I hope John doesn’t mind me repeating it here.

John’s Comment

This why it’s worth it and why I am the richest guy in the world and I would never give up this gift.