H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

RANDY ROARK

My Statement of Purpose

To live with intensity.

To in all things at all times be true to myself (this is my only life, it must be

lived by me or lost).

To be always honest with others, and not to refrain by remaining silent.

To accept the constancy of change and ignorance and insight, and to hold in mind

that an entire lifetime can be reclaimed, and often is, in a moment

one does not expect before it happens.

That the purpose of our life is hidden from us until quite late in the story, and that,

whether we accept it or not, we are going forward on faith and intuition.

My hand moving as though I might draw what I’ve said, how what we want to say is arrived at suddenly, extravagant and quick, even when we are suffering most or caught in the stormy light of fear, feeling less heroic, less passionate, indifferent, like distant flames in the dark sky or the moon shining in a pool.

[From the author’s Washington D.C. Notebook, originally published in NHS 2006,http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs06/Roark.htm.]