Death of an Author

“Death of the Author is a concept from mid-20th Century literary criticism; it holds that an author's intentions and biographical facts (the author's politics, religion, etc) should hold no special weight in determining an interpretation of their writing.“ - “Death of the Author”, tvtropes.org
  
You seek to take a blade  
and make a cut between  
the text and its author,  
that Siamese twin-ship  
no longer viable.  
   
Perhaps he’s been accused  
of deviant sex acts,  
or she’s revealed a line in bigotry  
hitherto unknown.  
Maybe she’s a blood-soaked maniac.  
   
The point is this: the jewel that once    
belonged to both of you  
has dulled in shine,
as layers fell away  
until the evil was exposed.  
   
The ugly grinning face you saw  
destroyed that perfect love  
you held as child for parent.  
The joy you found in Creation  
was missing from its Creator.  
   
I neither will nor can begin  
to teach you how to love,  
only state my own approach:  
that art exists because  
mankind is flawed.  
   
If it was not we wouldn’t need  
or even want  
artistic endeavour.  
So if a writer, painter, or  
some other artist’s dead, perhaps forget.  
   
Or else acknowledge and regret  
but still take that which you can get  
from the old bastard’s corpse.  
Or do a thousand other things.  
The art’s in your hands, now.