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Week 508:Inspiring Words From the Past; New Inspiring Words and Remembering a Friend

ireneallison12

Inside Information Inspiration

At the start of his career Hunter S. Thompson typed copies of famous novels in effort to gain a “muscle memory” of greatness–Gatsby for instance; the whole thing, seeking the inspiration; how it felt to write the powerful words. I have never gone that far, but I do surround myself with what I think are great words and images. These are pasted to my walls along with what I consider fine art. Visually, I have (among many others) Van Gough, Picasso, Dali and Giger prints as well as a large Shakespeare poster (whose accusatory eyes tend to follow me for some reason) on my walls. But it is not all highbrow, because I also have stuff like Elliott the Pigeon (of this wrap’s header), “Dogs Playing Poker” and a poster for Ed Wood’s Bride of the Monster on the same walls

And there are spaces covered with words by other writers, mostly poetry. From left to right, on the wall I’m facing, I see Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach; Mrs. Parker’s The Braggart; the opening paragraph of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, Shakespeare’s Queen Mab speech as recited by Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet; We Will Go No More A-roving by Lord Byron and Yeats’ The Second Coming. And there are quotes from Ogden Nash, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Dorothy Parker’s “You can lead a whore to culture but you cannot make her think.” It is a busy and well spoken wall. Only stuff I like and not what I’ve been told to like goes on the wall.

Plenty of new writers do not know that reading lots and lots of words is beneficial to both your writing and soul. Stephen King says that quite well in his book about writing, which along with Strunk and White’s Elements of Style are the best two guides I can think of to suggest for new writers to consult and keep. There has always been a copy of Elements on my desk beside a dictionary and thesaurus–both I keep around for old times sake. But rest assured there is not a channel on YouTube that will give you better advice.

What I admire most are things such as this passage from Dover Beach:

“…for the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new,

Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain…”

It is justifiably famous, but fame doesn’t really matter. What people say is only a small part of greatness. I find it to be the finest description of depression I have ever read; and it doesn’t bother me that it was great before I came along and will continue to be after I am gone. No one outlives the stars. But I also feel that way about Bill the Cat from Bloom County and Dogs Playing Poker (especially the cheating, cigar puffing little thugs passing cards with their toes), so my sources are quite varied.

Great stuff gives you something to aim at, not to imitate, yet it should create a desire in you to want to make something that will cause others to feel the same way you felt when you first read something along the line of Yeats’:

“…and what rough beast, its hour come around at last,

Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”

Or this by Shirley Jackson:

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality…”

Even Ogden Nash:

“Candy is dandy

But liquor is quicker”

One more from Dot Parker:

“If all the girls [attending the Yale Prom] were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be at all surprised.”

Since I need to find a way out of this topic and move on, I invite the readers to contribute quotes that they find inspiring; some might win a place on my wall.

The Week That Was, Is and Will Always Be

This week welcomed the return of old friends, new ones and the loss of another, who will receive special attention at the end of this post. I can honestly say that this is as diverse a group as one should expect to see in a World lit site.

One of our finest writers and commentators, Dale Williams Barrigar opened things a day early on Sunday. Memory Motel is a first rate combination of music, poetry, the ways the (sometimes j-j-jittery) mods of the  60’s and personal heartbreak –all of it effective and moving, in just a thousand words. The sorrow at the end locates the beauty in pain.

On Monday, Matt Liebowitz returned for the second time with What Can Anyone Say Although the elegiac tone and theme of the post heavily relates to Matt’s first work Nevermind, it is a fine stand alone work that captures a moment inside a topic too big to understand in one piece. It’s like the girl who helped the homeless in Colorado recently committing suicide at fourteen due to (speculated) bullying. Such topics are too horrible and you want to get away from them; to suppress all desire to consider the vast monstrosity, lest it destroys you too. But maybe, a little bit of honesty at a time, such as Matt’s work, can help.

Joker by Kaela Kellog reminds me of the hell schools can be for many after the onset of puberty. For those who were home schooled or have somehow buried the experience, I suggest imagining what Donnie Trump and Duchess Meg were like at thirteen; that should boot up the dark memories. Yet here, a clique encounters one person who tweaks the clique’s collective nose. Only Kaela knows what it all means, but that’s how I saw it and it is a fine bit of work indeed.

Midweek brought us Rence in Repose by JH Siegal. Such a witty and knowing piece that speaks of a “legend.” Tremendously erudite and restrained. And it also speaks of the trap of persona, becoming the entertainer and placing an extra layer of distance–all that and the loneliness it creates.

Being Billy Olsen marked the second appearance by Gerald Coleman. Gerry’s love for words and long experience as a writer and educator is evident at this loving look back, warts and all, at a life. We are all constantly trying to avoid embarrassment in our experience as much as we seek love and meaning. Dear Billy is an endless source of uneasiness and his twitchy leg does not always lead him to happy endings, but he is interesting. Gerry, who is also a first rate site supporter, hit the characterizations in this story perfectly.

In Want of a Home is the first, hopefully not only, story by Alannah Tjhatra. Belonging to something greater than ourselves is something we all share–even a hermit wants a connection, but perhaps more in the spiritual sense. And yet acceptance is a price we must ask before we can go home. Without it, we must continue the search. Sometimes home is another person. Alannah’s story is an ode to the concepts of belonging and acceptance, and getting the hell out of the place and back to life as soon as possible.

Well there they are, the first five who begin our eleventh year. May they thrive well and for long.

Remembering a Friend

No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend’s were.

Each man’s death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

–John Donne

The preceding is also on my wall.

I’m skipping the usual list this week to remember a friend of the site. Ed N White recently appeared with the Narrow Gauge (and has a remarkable four more slated for next year). Ed died peacefully on 9 November, not unexpectedly, after a long and rich life. He was a class act who courageously submitted work right up to the end, fighting through the hell of illness without ever losing his humor or grace. May the same be said for us all.

Just four days before his passing, Ed shared the following little micro-story, not as a submission, but out of friendship. Ed was a gentleman and will be missed.

Doggone

The chatty shelter volunteer briefly described each dog as we walked down the kennel run. The dogs were anxiously barking, jumping, and scratching at the chain-link doors.

“This is Jack; loves to play ball. Millie loves to run and play with the kids. Zeus, good home protection.…”

She walked past the next run without comment. A small, sad dog with vacant eyes lay trembling on a pallet.

I asked, “What about this one?”

She whispered, “He’s blind… getting the shot today.”

“For blindness?”

She shielded her mouth and whispered, “No, final…euthanize.”

“I’ll take him. C’mon Lucky…good boy.”

Ed N. White

Leila

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Published by ireneallison12

48 thoughts on “Week 508:Inspiring Words From the Past; New Inspiring Words and Remembering a Friend”

  1. Leila
    RIP to Ed N. White, I remember his recent story on LS very well and look forward to his other stories appearing…the micro story about the blind, lonely dog is a tear-jerker, literally, with a brilliant ending, and it says so much about the author in such few words…thanks for sharing.
    Dale

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    1. Dale

      One thing Ed wanted to do was thank everyone for their comments. He was going to write something that we would put in, but ran out of time. You gave him a wonderful comment, as you always do. Ed was in his late 80’s but he hung in there better than many younger people.

      Thanks as always

      Leila

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      1. Leila
        Just wanted to commend Ed N. White’s “Doggone” one more time. It’s one of those “I-wish-I-had-written-this,” truly a modern fable, parable, teaching story, fairy tale, nugget of the deepest human sympathy (which = wisdom). Its re-readability factor is as high as it gets.
        It’s sad and happy at the same time! It’s as if Ed wrote this “for children and angels” as William Blake had it. His bio photo is also totally cool. He looks like a Hemingway character or a character in his own story and something about his eyes lets you know he was cool. (Observe photos of Rudy Guiliani as contrast.)
        And, thanks to LS for putting out all of the above…Anyone who wouldn’t be moved by it must have a heart of stone! Nothing more important to a writer (on a creative level) either, than having their work published “after the fact,” so this is truly noble and awesome work that deserves extra levels of thank yous……
        Dale

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      2. Thank you Dale
        Ed is a good writer. I say that in the present tense because that is one thing we do get in the end, something of us that continues.

        He has four very good upcoming appearances beginning just after the new year. He had a few rejected too, but mainly that was due to making certain the gun was empty.
        As far as I know the little missive we added today is the last thing he wrote; certainly it was in his final email, which preceeded word of his death sent by his sister just a few days later.
        Anyway, all the credit goes to Ed.
        Thanks again! And let Boo know his smiling face will appear in this slot the next time it is my turn.
        Leila

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  2. Ed was indeed an inspiration and I hope that wherever his essence is now it is devoid of pain and resting in peace.

    I have read so much poetry over the years and yet when I read your wonderful roundup post the line that came to mind was from The Stolen Child by Yeats. I wonder why that one – but I don’t question what pops into my addled brain.

    Come away, O human child!
    To the waters and the wild
    With a faery, hand in hand,
    For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

    Maybe it was thinking about Ed and hoping he has a hand to hold. dd

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    1. Thank you Diane

      That is a good one, which reminds me of another Donne, Death be Not Proud. Never written poetry due to no ability at it, but great poetry gets to the soul of things better than most art forms.

      Leila

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      1. We’ll go no more a Roving is one of those like The Stolen Child that I just ‘came across’ when I was flicking through one of my collections of poetry. We didn’t do poetry in our secondary modern in Liverpool but I did it myself. My gran used to laugh at me reciting aloud as I baked in the kitchen – often The Foresaken Merman or The Donkey or something by Kipling. You are so right that poetry can do so much with so little. Mind you I used to read The Ancient Mariner to Ian and that’s not so little. A few years ago I was living on my own here in the woods, well apart from two wonderful feline companinons and I read poetry most evenings then, we didn’t have television, I even fought my way through Paradise Lost and loved it. I haven’t read much or written any since my dad died. I must try harder. Mind you murdering people is taking up a lot of time right now.

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      2. Hi Diane
        As I said I can’t write a poem, but I know good ones when I see them.
        I often “sing” the Byron roving poem to the tune of Irish Eyes are Smiling, because it is a close fit.
        Thank you again!
        Leila

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    2. Dear Diane

      Just wanted to say thanks for the beautiful Yeats quote, and the mention of Mariner and Paradise Lost. I dug out my copies of all three and Boo and I spent the evening re-reading favorite parts to each other with one of our favorite movies (The Trial, by Orson Welles) on in the background with the sound off…I have a picture of the long-haired Milton on one of the walls. I admire him as fearless freedom fighter almost as much as poet, including the freedom of divorce, the free press, and the freedom from state religion!…

      Also, just in case you’ve never heard it, Leonard Cohen does a FABULOUS version of Lord Byron’s “We’ll Go No More A-Roving,” on DEAR HEATHER (first song)…(it’s one of my favorite Cohen productions)…

      Thanks again!

      Dale

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  3. Hi Leila,
    The Strunk & White is always at hand, and so also S. King’s Elements. I agree completely about those two titles being essential. And also these wall words by ee cummings :
    Buffalo Bill ’s
    defunct
                   who used to
                   ride a watersmooth-silver
                                                                      stallion
    and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
                                                                                                         Jesus
    he was a handsome man 
                                                      and what i want to know is
    how do you like your blue-eyed boy
    Mister Death
    Wall words to live by (for me)
    Best regards,
    Marco

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  4. A beautiful post, Leila, and a bit heart-wrenching. The blind dog was indeed Lucky. I’m sure we’ll be reading Ed’s posthumous stories with mixed emotions. A few lines of poetry I’d add are “my Love let us be true to one another” (or something close) from Dover Beach. “The woods are lovely, dark and deep” by Frost. “We are such stuff /As dreams are made on; /and our little life/ is rounded with a sleep” from The Tempest. And, of course, “Play ball!” from MLB opening day.
    Is rounded with a sleep.

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  5. Hi Leila!!
    Here’s a few quotes from things I was reading in the last few days:
    “The balance is preserved by the snails climbing the / Santa Monica cliffs…” Charles Bukowski
    “ABOMUNISTS SPIT ANTI-POETRY FOR POETIC REASONS AND FRINK…ABOMUNISTS DO NOT LOOK AT PICTURES PAINTED BY PRESIDENTS AND UNEMPLOYED PRIME MINISTERS…IN TIMES OF NATIONAL PERIL, ABOMUNISTS, AS REALITY AMERICANS, STAND READY TO DRINK THEMSELVES TO DEATH FOR THEIR COUNTRY…ABOMUNISTS DO NOT FEEL PAIN, NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT HURTS…ABOMUNISTS DO NOT WRITE FOR MONEY: THEY WRITE THE MONEY ITSELF…ABOMUNISTS BELIEVE ONLY WHAT THEY DREAM ONLY AFTER IT COMES TRUE…ABOMUNIST CHILDREN MUST BE REARED ABOMINUBLY…ABOMUNISTS REJECT EVERYTHING EXCEPT SNOWMEN…” Bob Kaufman
    “Some honored me by giving me / the secret of their works” Sappho (Willis Barnstone trans.)
    “O night! O refreshing dark! For me you signal inward celebration; you deliver me from anguish. In flatland solitude or in the stony labyrinths of a capital, star twinkle or burst of streetlamps, you are the goddess Liberty’s fireworks.” Charles Baudelaire (Keith Waldrop trans.)
    “Anyone into living and creativity has got to avoid most people most of the time.” Charles Bukowski
    Dale

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    1. Hi again Dale
      Excellent stuff. I know that “Don’t try” is on Buk’s stone and that most people do not understand what he meant by it. Those are usually the people who say “I will write someday.”
      Gotta do my grocery shopping, but I look forward to reading your other thoughts when I get back.
      Thank you!
      Leila

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      1. Leila
        Speaking of tombstones, this is a cool quote about WS by Samuel Johnson. I don’t know if Johnson was right about all of this or not, but it’s interesting to ponder upon!…:
        “It does not appear that Shakespeare thought his works worthy of posterity, that he levied any ideal tribute upon future times…So careless was this great poet of future fame that, though he retired to ease and plenty while he was yet little ‘declined into the vale of years,’ before he could be disgusted with fatigue or disabled by infirmity, he made no collection of his works nor desired to rescue those that had been already published from the depravations that obscured them…”
        I tend to think WS had the feeling someone else would take care of all that later, not unlike what the Judge says in “How to Avoid Literary Success in Life…,” but it’s stunning to think that Johnson might very well be correct on this!!
        Another great quote about WS is the one by Jorge Luis Borges, that Shakespeare was “Everyone and no one.”
        I enjoyed how you mentioned having different “levels” of cultural artifacts on your walls, etc…The other stuff along with high art, literary quotations, and HIM and his eyes (WS) etc….Along with all the writers and painters, I have pictures of Marilyn and John Wayne on my walls, along with quite a few of Snoopy too…Snoopy is like the smaller version of my wonderful pit bull, Bandit…Also one of Seuss’s Grinch, the American Scrooge…and the medicine men/warriors, Sitting Bull and Geronimo.
        John Donne is an awesome writer!!
        Dale

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  6. Leila
    These are three extremely timely gems penned by Henry Miller many decades ago:
    “America is immune to all appeals. Her people do not understand the language of the poet. They do not wish to recognize suffering – it is too embarrassing. They do not greet beauty with open arms – her presence is disturbing to heartless automatons. Their fear of violence drives them to commit insane cruelties. They have no reverence for form or image: they are bent on destroying whatever does not conform to their pattern, which is chaos. They are not even concerned with their own disintegration, because they are already putrescent. A vast congeries of rotting sepulchers, America holds for yet a little while, awaiting the opportune moment to blow itself to smithereens.”
    “He lost nothing by not mingling with the crowd, by not devouring the newspapers, by not enjoying the radio or the movies, by not having an automobile, a refrigerator, a vacuum cleaner. He not only did not lose anything through the lack of these things, but he actually enriched himself far beyond the ability of the man of today who is glutted with these dubious comforts and conveniences. Thoreau lived, whereas we may be said to barely exist.”
    “At a certain point in his life Gautama the Buddha sat himself beneath a bo tree and resolved not to move from the spot until he had pierced the secret of human suffering. Jesus disappeared for seventeen years, to return to his native land steeped in a wisdom of life which sets at nought all our knowledge.”
    Dale

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  7. Leila

    This is another good one:

    “One of the Armadillo’s regular performers was a spiritual teacher named Ram Dass who used to pack the place like he was a rock star. Ram Dass used to say that you could acquire knowledge – which is rarely a bad thing – but you could not acquire wisdom. ‘You can’t know wisdom,’ said Ram Dass. ‘Wisdom you have to BE.'”

    -Willie Nelson

    Dale

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    1. Hi again Dale

      I agree with that. Wisdom is something that others must see in you; not necessarily a subject for the mirror. When people claim that they ARE something you can’t see it usually indicates a fool.
      Thank you!
      Leila

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  8. Leila

    Ed’s Doggone teared me up, I admit.

    I also confess to having from personal junk to other people’s masterpieces on my walls. In my work room (there are no tools) is a 4′ x 3′ Kurt Vonnegut poster of him at a typewriter with a stream of smoke coming out of a cigarette. On the right side, I put post-its of my story submittals — where, what, when. When they are rejected, I put them on the left side.

    Whenever someone has something nice to say, I look to Kurt’s left for a reality check. When I’m depressed, I look to his right for a touch of hope.

    A psychological therapist would be more humane.

    Gerry

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    1. Hi Gerry
      Vonnegut was brilliant til the end, with Man Without a Country. His little books like Time-quake and God Bless you Dr. Kevorkian never got the right push from his publishers. A hero also because he began smoking around the same age I did.
      Leila

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  9. Wonderful post, Leila. Ed N White’s ‘Doggone’ could go on everyone’s Wall. Thanks so much for sharing it.

    I too love ‘Dover Beach,’ For me, this bit of Tennyson acts as a counter-balance:

    ‘… To the island-vaslley of Avilion;

    Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow

    Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies

    Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns

    And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea,’

    My favourite C20 poet, Auden published his Wall. Of all the nuggets of wisdom in there, I’m afraid I prefer this Icelandic proverb: ‘Every man likes the smell of his own farts.’

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      2. Hi again Doug
        I read that Harpo Marx was a huge wit at the round table. I don’t think I ever have seen anything that has him speaking, but he is quoted by many of the NYC writers of the day, and it seems he was a nice enough fellow too.
        Leila

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  11. Reading is ABSOLUTELY good for writing. One of the more helpful developmental things I ever did was to read slushpiles and contests for a journal at my alma mater. In fact, I still do it. It’s a great source of Ideas, techniques, things that worked, things that didn’t. That’s not in lieu of reading other successful writers, but it is great fuel for your own writing.

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  12. Oh my goodness Leila, Ed’s story and your commentary together just wrecked me. I hope to be like Ed, pushing words out into the world right up to the end. Cheers Ed and all the best to everyone here.

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  13. Inspired words all round. Lovely “savour of discrepancy” in the names and works cited. Ed White’s Doggone is a little masterpiece. Words to add to the wall might include George Herbert’s ‘Dare to be true’ (from poem The Church Porch), Margaret Atwood’s ‘… there’s nothing to hope for, but I do it anyway’ (from Murder in the Dark). And something quietly magnificent about Kafka’s last diary entry, which ends with the words: ‘More than consolation is: You too have weapons.’ Such words can put the fight back into a person.

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    1. Hi Geraint
      Like that Kafka “you too have weapons.” New to me, and I thank you for it People forget that we can hit back when we don’t like something. And Atwood was right about hope.
      Leila

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  14. Hi Leila,

    You and Diane know as well as anyone, I normally bugger about with my comments. Today is not the day to do so. Anytime I interacted with Ed, his humility, grace and bravery got to me. We knew that he was at the end of his life but he took that on the chin and he was still the way he had always been.

    Long story short – Even in the short time that I ‘knew’ Ed, he was an absolute gentleman and an inspiration – It was a pleasure being in contact with him. I toasted him when I heard of the sad news and I will toast him each time I see any of his writing.

    Last thing – Leila, you did him proud with your words!!!

    Ed, sleep well my fine friend!!

    Hugh

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  15. Hi Leila,

    That is truly amazing about Hunter S. Thompson retyping the Great Gatsby and other books! Talk about a dedication to the craft. I feel like I’m in great company with you on SK’s writing and reading advice, and on the “Elements of Style.” I need to reread it again–see if any progress has been made…

    That passage from “Dover Beach,” sure riffles the dependencies of it all.

    I really enjoy these weekend pieces!

    Christopher

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    1. Hi Christopher
      I kept forgetting the name of SK’s book, of course it is On Writing. Truly informative and fun. Especially the “super electro magnet” story with his brother.
      Thank you for coming by and for your great work!
      Leila

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      1. Thanks so much! Yes indeed on his bros’ “super electro magnet,” his deftness for science fiction shines (but true). That’s what’s so cool about it. Those personal stories intermingled with his advice on writing. His ear doctor visits scream with pain! I don’t get how people knock S.K. I think his writing is nothing short than magical. And those Bachman books, I don’t know how many times, I’ve read, “The Long Walk.”

        Of course all of that money and popularity surely riles people, lol. They knocked Charles Dickens in his time too, for essentially the same reasons.

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      2. Hi Chris
        I have been sold on SK ever since a neighbor lent me a copy of the collection “Night Shift.” I fondly recall the tale of a guy who “was a pig about his beer” changing into a giant ameba after dowing an off one in one swallow. Been a fan ever since.
        Leila

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      3. Hi Leila
        Yeah that was a great one! The old guys around that store. Dude definitely was a “pig about his beer!” I just read it for inspiration. Then as usual I was taken away. “The Night Flier” in that collection is great too and the movie with Miguel Ferrer.
        Chris

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  16. I love your point about reading, and its connection to decent writing. I see Dale has also referred to Samuel Johnson and another quote of his comes to mind “I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.”

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