I realize that it has been a long time since I have written here but...the last time I wrote I flew through the jet-wash of the pilot ahead of me. It caused my engines to stall and I went into a flat spin that sent me out over the water. When my R.I.O. (Radar Intercept Officer) ejected, he hit the canopy and...well I just can't talk about it, and I had a confidence problem...
....or maybe that was the movie Top Gun. I get confused.
I had actually gotten the computer out of mothballs and dusted it off yesterday when something momentous happened in the house and I needed to pause my writing until the next morning. Later in the day my dad brought up an article he'd read about Kurt Vonnegut and how a letter he'd written to a school got published in a book about great quotes. As a comparison, whenever I write a letter to a school it is never published and the people in the office tend to look at me funny from then on.
The gist of Vonnegut's letter was that he was encouraging people to create something. He offered, as an exercise in creation, an assignment. He told the students that they should each write a poem. Not just a random collection of words (like some people's blog posts...amateurs) but an honest to goodness rhyming poem! Then he instructed the people who have agonized over finding rhymes for things like "Castille soap" and "Ipswich clams" (bastille rope and sandwich trams by the way) to tear their poems into pieces. Not just any old pieces either. "Teeny weeny" pieces! Never mind the fact that the author of Slaughterhouse 5 called for the destruction of people's hard work...he used the words "teeny weeny" to do so! He said that in creating without a plan to get rich and famous and have no intention other than creation you will grow your soul and you will be all the better for it. I'm going to assume the best and infer that my dad was suggesting that I could start writing again and I'll leave the tearing into teeny weeny pieces to the people who print out my blogs...and the occasional office staff of random public schools.
I'm sure this is not what he had in mind but here is my contribution:
A Haiku Poem
by Jeff Garrett
Kurt Vonnegut says
Creation is to your soul
As sweets are to waist
So there you have it. I have created something. I'm not sure if my soul has grown Mr. Vonnegut, but since I cannot afford to pay for alterations on my soul's wardrobe I'd be willing to try the rich and famous portion of creation for a bit...you know just to keep things interesting while paying off a credit card or two.
....or maybe that was the movie Top Gun. I get confused.
I had actually gotten the computer out of mothballs and dusted it off yesterday when something momentous happened in the house and I needed to pause my writing until the next morning. Later in the day my dad brought up an article he'd read about Kurt Vonnegut and how a letter he'd written to a school got published in a book about great quotes. As a comparison, whenever I write a letter to a school it is never published and the people in the office tend to look at me funny from then on.
The gist of Vonnegut's letter was that he was encouraging people to create something. He offered, as an exercise in creation, an assignment. He told the students that they should each write a poem. Not just a random collection of words (like some people's blog posts...amateurs) but an honest to goodness rhyming poem! Then he instructed the people who have agonized over finding rhymes for things like "Castille soap" and "Ipswich clams" (bastille rope and sandwich trams by the way) to tear their poems into pieces. Not just any old pieces either. "Teeny weeny" pieces! Never mind the fact that the author of Slaughterhouse 5 called for the destruction of people's hard work...he used the words "teeny weeny" to do so! He said that in creating without a plan to get rich and famous and have no intention other than creation you will grow your soul and you will be all the better for it. I'm going to assume the best and infer that my dad was suggesting that I could start writing again and I'll leave the tearing into teeny weeny pieces to the people who print out my blogs...and the occasional office staff of random public schools.
I'm sure this is not what he had in mind but here is my contribution:
A Haiku Poem
by Jeff Garrett
Kurt Vonnegut says
Creation is to your soul
As sweets are to waist
So there you have it. I have created something. I'm not sure if my soul has grown Mr. Vonnegut, but since I cannot afford to pay for alterations on my soul's wardrobe I'd be willing to try the rich and famous portion of creation for a bit...you know just to keep things interesting while paying off a credit card or two.
