(or how to encourage a fellow artist to keep going despite despair)
Dear Eva, April 14
It will be almost a month since you wrote
to me and you have possibly forgotten your
state of mind (I don’t doubt it though) You
seem the same as always, and being you,
hate every moment of it. Don’t! Learn to
say “Fuck You” to the world once in a while.
You have every right to. Just stop thinking,
worrying, looking over your shoulder, wonder-
ing, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for
some easy way out, struggling, grasping,
confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling,
bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling,
mumbling, rambling, gambling, tumbling,
scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching,
bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning,
horse-shitting, hair-splitting, nit-picking,
piss-trickling, nose sticking, ass-gouging,
eyeball-popping, finger-pointing, alleyway
sneaking, long waiting, small stepping,
evil-eyeing, back-scratching, searching,
perching, besmirching, grinding, grinding,
grinding away at yourself. Stop it and just
(*) Letter from Sol Lewitt to Eva Hesse, April 14th, 1965, in Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving a Wider Audience, Chronicle Books, 2014. Shown here is just the first page of a 5-page letter that Sol Lewitt sent to Eva Hesse.