Acclaim is a distraction.
My earliest poems sing of the absolute necessity of allowing love to invade and pervade one's life. That can make the miracle happen in reality. Try it.
The most astonishing joy is to receive from the muses the gift of a whole lyric.
Follow your own weird.
We are all participants in the marvelous.
Some artists shrink from self-awareness, fearing that it will destroy their unique gifts and even their desire to create. The truth of the matter is quite opposite.