Day 10

LIFE IS…

Choose some fuzzy topic to define. [Life, community, love, distraction, death, racism, god, whatever suits you at the moment] Define it by indirection. (If I were to define a bucket, instead of giving its shape, purpose, materials,  I might say “a castle begins with a bucket of sand. Or “I have no idea why a bucket is not a pail.” )

“That was the summer pleasure came in yoked buckets” could be part of the definition of  bucket, summer, or pleasure. 

Define by indirection.  (You realize that I’m using a rather loose conception defining.)

Write in paired units. Lines, stanzas, sentences, paragraphs. The second does not necessarily continue the thought of the first, but it should be apparent that the two are companions, even if they contradict one another. And they should be of about the same length. If a second pair is longer or shorter, make it noticeably so.

Be as serious or playful as you please.

If you see something taking shape that you might want to put more work into later, leave yourself some good notes ( amazing how ideas that seemed so solid one day can disappear entirely), tie off the end, and quit.

If this seems like too much trouble, as always, feel free to have cookies and milk, or work on that chapter 54 that was giving you trouble last night.