You want to know how big sports is? It supersedes language. That was a serious offense when I was in grade school. Where is the past tense of “fly,” not “flew”? Baseball, and in this instance I concede the game has a good reason. When a batter hits a fly ball, it’s easy to imagine …
Tag: writing
Drive-Through Blues
I ordered two biscuits and, leaning out the window, informed the voice from the speaker that I had a coupon to “buy one and get one free.” I have learned that it is futile to say something that is merely English – “I want two biscuits, and I’ve got a coupon to get one free” …
Lyrically High
When I was a boy, I noticed that a trademark of Buck Owens songs was that lots of them began with, Weeeellll, I’m a-gonna … I suppose we all fall into patterns, whether by intent or habit. I tend to begin songs by getting up in the morning, sometimes literally. The first thing I saw …
Another Morning In Paradise
I was dreaming about something beautiful. I could probably describe it if I had not staggered into the den, faster than my wits would allow, stubbing my toe on the exercise bike/clotheshorse on my way to the front door, on which my beloved nephew was knocking. It was about 6:30. I had already awakened briefly …
Literary Chili
Sometimes, here amid life in paradise, the sparks just don’t fly. I’ve been buying time all day, and it’s just about to exceed my credit line. Yeah, that one, too, but what I’ve been doing today is little things to bide my time until that great, daily burst of creative force arrives, shaking the dishes …
The Method Is Imprecise
I write novels. Here’s how I do it. It doesn’t necessarily work for anyone other than me, and it doesn’t work for me enough yet that I would be so presumptuous as to declare it a success. I’m not recommending the way I do it. I’m just describing. I’m a bit of a rambler. I …
Stuck in a Rut, Part Two
This is the continuation of a short story that itself is a continuation and expansion of a song I wrote. It was four in the morning. Josie Swenson found herself fixated with a full moon casting an eerie glow through the open window in a rundown home near campus. The front faced the soccer stadium …
Left to My Own (Poetic) Devices
“Love your liver with Liverite Liver Aid.” I just saw that on TV, right after, “Carolina. Duke. The rivalry continues.” That’s a juxtaposition. It’s about as juxtaposed as it gets. Why would Liverite be placed right after a basketball promo? Was it a matter of some programmer just popping in – or whatever they do …
Stuck in a Rut, Part One
This is an extension of a song I wrote. It was a Thursday, but she didn’t have a class until eleven on Friday, and then she had to go to Lake Murray to spend the weekend with the family, and next week was Spring Break, so Josie Swenson didn’t see any reason she couldn’t have …
Phases and Stages
I’m going through a phase. It’s not numbered. It wasn’t “phased in.” It’s not a change of life. It’s decades past puberty and, I hope, a good deal ahead of dementia. I’m probably the last person on earth who would declare it maturity, a concept about which I have been in denial since it seemed …
Nightrider's Lament 