Measures and Metaphors

2024.09.09

Good morning, that wonderful place.

Year. Month. Day. It's how I write the date. It's for filing's sake. A point of order first thing this morning.

Write about what you write about. If you're stuck it's a good idea.

The idea is to write. So that means rhythm. The beat of putting down words.

We only stop for one reason: to think.

Thinking for writers is what curiosity is to cats: a great killer.

Catch the rhythm of the day and fly words at the page.

That's the job every day.

Have a theme set up, certainly, do that. But sometimes the words don't want to get in line. Don't want their lines in that line.

That's okay. Follow them for a while and get back to it when they show back up.

"I really believe we write what we have to write, that day." A writing teacher once told a class.

Wise words. The day has its own agenda. The world wants you to say a certain thing, dance a certain step.

Take care of it first, then it takes care of you.

Another reason for these morning pages: to get out the bilge, or beautiful, of what the day wants to say.

An old friend of mine, speaking on my writing, told me, "You like lists."

No. There's an infinite way to say everything. How could I ever choose just one way?

And as the whole thing is about rhythm, might as well use the additional examples to fill in the beat.

Syncopation at times, rhymes, other percussive steps, easy on the head voice, my choice of words.

The tempo of the sentences ought to fit the tempo of the scene. Short staccato for action, slow sonorous for languid landscapes for intimate moments.

See, it's important to stay in the rhythm of what we're writing, it is part of the conveyance of the truth we're telling.

Old rap artist poets know this truth.

Measure matters in writing at least as much as in science.

Perhaps there's a correlation.
Perhaps it's about telling a truth.
Perhaps meter measures in a poem the way it does meters on yardsticks.
Perhaps lists of metaphors for tick marks on yellow measuring tape.
Perhaps I found the rhythm to the day and know, by the feeling of it, it's time to finish this entry and on to the planned session.

Perhaps. Perhaps.
Perhaps, went yes.

So, away we go.