How should I cry to be heard?
“Who, if I cried, would hear me?” Rilke asked. He directed his question to the angelic orders. Did he hear back from them? Nobody knows. In the first ten episodes of season one of The Duino Elegies he didn’t report any success.
I, as the son of the down-to-earth twentieth century, have a different question. How should I cry to be heard? I can cry a different way if that’s what it takes. I cry a bit and listen. Is there any noise that gives away a listener? I adjust my pitch, my volume, any characteristic of my sound. Maybe try a laughter? In case the heavenly creatures are fed up with the humans whining.
That could work, but it’s not the angels I want to address. I want some fellow humans to hear me. And there’s another twist in my quest: I’m not willing to use marketing devices. I know they help one to reach a wider audience.
Neither angels, nor a wider audience. I want to reach the select few who can pick up my voice in this ocean of noises. They would hear me without gimmicks, without a change in my voice. I assume, I dream, they are already looking for it. They are as desperate as I am to finally meet.
How are they looking? How do they evaluate a blog post? How do they stumble upon it in the first place? I’m taking steps to meet them halfway. If you know one of them, please pass on this message.
