(Com)passionate Mercy

It was the poet, Kenneth Patchen, I believe, who said that the above is all that really matters. The rest is bullshit or close. It doesn't matter that there is a blizzard raging and that i-bloated-Tunes is not allowing me to stream one my favorite radio stations and I can't insert a link to said station because OS-X and Safari doesn't like the way I am going about it. 

With Explorer, highlighting text and inserting a link was as easy as dumping on Rachel "Gatemouth" Ray. Not today. At least I am not on hold with SONY.

Update: Using Firefox I have no problema with link insertion.

I have been reading more about writing lately, mostly because of Maud Newton and Mark Folse writing about writing. These people are writers. So is David Oliver. So is my friend Alfonso, on the wine trail in Italia. So is Regina Schrambling and The Gurgling "Cranky" Cod. And how could I forget Jesse Kornbluth, Head Butler of culture and humanity? I am not one of the fluent ones. I have always had difficulty writing. Logos has never been my forte. Maybe it has something to do with my education or my temperament. My English teachers were not founts of inspiration for me. My high school English teacher was nicknamed "Tiger" Lowry. He had halitosis and did not instill any passion for reading great literature. He spoke in a monotone and we all fidgeted in our seats waiting for the next class. There were a few dorks who licked up to him, but for the most part he earned the nickname. He was not a tiger. He was fucking boring. I did have a college professor who was passionate about poetry. He at least lit a small fire under me about literature. I appreciated him more after I left college. He instilled some curiosity in me about great poets and writers.

Anxiety about writing, anxiety about not writing, writer's block, writer's blockade, feeling, cold intellect, depression, curiosity, spigots, arcs, cascading cadences, succinctness, grammar, imagination, obsession, fear, self-loathing, reflection, narcissism, self-reference, meta this, meta that, irony, wit, humor, literalism, monotheism, monoculture, dumbing down, elitism, discerning audience, mediocrity... Oy, I could go on but what's the point? There is no point. There is only what is and what is becoming. Don't forget the histrionics and history.  And if it does not contain a milligram of compassionate mercy, what's it worth? 

I am three score plus and am just learning this. There is no on-off switch.

Comments

[david]

And in writing about writer's block, you wrote something that reaches out. Wll done ol' chap.

[Marco]

Thanks for the up, David.

[gastropoda]

Whoa. Very flattered to be called out here, just as I'm losing faith in my own typing. But the best thing about this gizmo Al Gore invented is how it has given so many with lyrical phrasing to share a way to share. Also, you made me think and thank, yet again, the teachers I was lucky to have at formative ages. Will never forgive the asshole in college who could not get published himself and trashed all wannabe fiction writers. Although I should be thanking him for deterring me from the wrong trail of tears. We who read you salute you.

[Marco]

Why, thank you for thanking me, Queen of the razor wire lede. Fran Lebowitz in HBO's Public Speaking said some very funny things about writing. Try to see it somehow if you haven't already. I enjoy your writing very much. Your faith in your fingers may lag sometimes, but the spirit remains.