It's a hell of a thing for me to have said, "I believe most of my readers take in a paragraph like the one I just wrote--thanks for reading--and it goes from one end of the brain to the other without arousal suggesting any commitment." This in the post the other day on Hopatcong.
It's probably not true. It's probably my own self-doubt. And I must "believe" that only in a bad mood. I was facing my job the next day. True or false, I read that first paragraph minutes ago, and though it does lose its power in the last sentence, otherwise it's elegant enough to feel pleasing, no matter if anyone would think it's only sentimental or not. What's the point of the big shakedown in the next paragraph?
Alright, up against the wall! Am I just an impractical idealist or what?!
How many more times a job will spoil things after a nice day seems infinite. And the barrelhouse is a state of mind I'd probably be a fool to believe I can escape, as if I'm any exception to "a circuitous habit of small concerns." I just want to be.
It's probably not true. It's probably my own self-doubt. And I must "believe" that only in a bad mood. I was facing my job the next day. True or false, I read that first paragraph minutes ago, and though it does lose its power in the last sentence, otherwise it's elegant enough to feel pleasing, no matter if anyone would think it's only sentimental or not. What's the point of the big shakedown in the next paragraph?
Alright, up against the wall! Am I just an impractical idealist or what?!
How many more times a job will spoil things after a nice day seems infinite. And the barrelhouse is a state of mind I'd probably be a fool to believe I can escape, as if I'm any exception to "a circuitous habit of small concerns." I just want to be.
You should have stayed at the WH, although our beloved boss EH was let go a couple of months or so ago!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about EH. He's a good man and I hope the best for him. We will talk yet.
DeleteYeah, you and I would be having a lot of fun in the WH. For sure. Especially if they would have had us work together!
I thought, last week, about when maybe I can swing by. But in this day & age, I don't swing by anywhere. My schedule is rigid. So I thought maybe some morning after Fred & I fish...which is about once a year. He is retiring soon. That doesn't mean I'll have any more time. But it will mean his availability will be better, when I do have time.
Keep EH's honor. The WH is "history."
Should have used a colon. EH had a sense. You still sit at the desk, and EH understood the long view: Whether he would get let go or not. Did he speak of history to you? He seemed to know it was appropriate to speak of it to me.
ReplyDeleteLenny, back when I was enrolled at Hampshire College, I wrote an "economics paper" for a Division project. I never counted the pages, too many, but I weighed the stack of them at 10 pounds. Instead of polishing it to make fit for submission, I withdrew my enrollment and spent seven more years at my shore adventure while earning money self-employed as a clammer. My course of study at Hampshire is best summed: the inward adventure. And of course inward has its outer counterpart. As the semester drew to a close and I told my friend Jerry about leaving, he took my pack of Marlboros from my hand and pointed at the words, speaking them distinctly: veni vidi vinci. Latin translated to English: I came, I saw, I conquered. The words of Julius Caesar.
ReplyDeleteEric certainly came, saw, conquered! Landed on his feet with a good gig with the help of a great member! It was probably the best thing that could have happened to him!
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear. You always worry at first. People there thought I was nuts to leave for a supermarket, but it's worked out better for me, and I'm not saying you & I wouldn't have fun in the WH.
ReplyDeleteSo glad for you! Next time I talk to E, I'll give him your best! And don't let Fred out fish you, after all, you're the pro!
ReplyDelete