Family Life, Family Strife
Imagine marrying someone who not only doesn’t bring home the bacon, but not even enough cash to pay for one egg a week, and yet still spends his (or her) time alone doing something that most people think of as a ‘hobby’. (Imagine your spouse hiding in a room for most of the day building model airplanes or poring over a stamp collection.) The writer’s spouse has to really believe in the importance of the writing. And even those who do must surely find their patience tested when time with them or family seems to be treated as of secondary importance.
Sadly, poetry is probably the least valued literary endeavour for most people, and it certainly is the least likely to ever provide a living wage. I personally know, or at least know about, a lot of poets. Those that are not divorced are as rare as poets who make a living just writing poetry.
