Don’t spend time stringing and
tuning your instrument. Start
making music now!
Lucky Numbers 33, 2, 37, 48, 1, 26
n
So what if your strings break. How many strings
Does someone need? Make smaller music then,
And if your instrument is out of tune,
Do not despair. Play melancholy songs.
This fetishizing takes a lot of time”
The strings intact and sounding as they should,
The concert-goers waiting for what’s good.
(The same is true when worrying a rhyme.)
Just play. And if it’s not quite what you thought,
Remember that, so often, errors heard”
The ones that woke you up, caught in your throat”
The audience missed. Don’t reach for what is hard.
Convince yourself that there is no lost ground
Between perfection and what’s merely sound.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
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