I am only the momentary caretaker of the story. It is one of those stories that drops in someone’s lap without warning. Except, in my case, it made its appearance by being underfoot.
A recent transplant to the Twin Cities, I had been warned by a friend that January and February were bitterly cold, and buses were less dependable on those frigid days. His advice: just buy a decent car and an engine block heater and plug the car in at night so it would start the next day. That way, he said, I wouldn’t find myself standing in twenty-below wind chills waiting for a bus that may or may not come.
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I’m sure it gets easier the more you do it, but I tried to write a fictional article for Everything Falls Apart and discovered that writing one following the styles set out for pieces of journalism breaks almost every single habit and rule of writing for poetry or fiction. Or even technical papers (which is part of my day job).
It took me four hours to write <500 words, with multitudes of rewrites as I discovered in editing that I had slipped into the habits formed by writing fiction.
My respect for copy-editors and journalists has gone upwards by a significant degree. It takes an entirely different mindset (for weak-minded me) to do what they do. And how!
And — to be 100% transparent about the process — I suspect there are still places that it could be fine-tuned in the article.
So, hats off to those folks. Their job is not a clear cut nor as easy as they make it look.
a feverdream fingers flowing for to brilliant the light from fingertips bright drowned of shadow flickering the night
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is kenaz, which has been translated as both “torch” and “ulcer” . It is conceived as symbolic of flame, which is the illuminated creativity as well as the source of purification/healing/cautery. Fire is a a source of transformation and unmaking as well as heat, passion and light. As an ulcer, kenaz can be associated with a fever or inflammation, perhaps a wound which requires healing.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
I wonder sometimes if our current society expects us to over-explain and preemptively apologize for everything. Between trigger warnings and 500-word essays about our artistic intent before sharing a haiku…
“May contain fiction” or “Warning: Poetry Ahead” seems like adequate warnings for both concerns. Not everything you come across can or should be cozy comfort.
But I also come from an era where artistic expression was expected to regularly present challenging moments that forced you to think or to process your discomfiture. Or, failing that, avoidance of the art was entirely acceptable.
