Sitting Alone, Below the Weight of Things
I can’t recall. Was there ever a decision reached, as to whether or not one should embark upon -or refrain from- writing under these conditions? I know there was plenty said about writing drunk and editing sober, or simply not writing drunk at all. That was Carver or Hemingway, or both. This is something different. I don’t have any recollection of anything being said concerning writing under the immediate influence of a situation or letting it pass and then reflecting upon it. It seems to me that it is much easier to tell a story. To turn a memory into words. I have never been particularly interested in ‘easy’. I have always wanted to take the feelings as they come and let them form their own sentences, and then paragraphs. You see, there is nothing there. Just a sensation. As if my blood was carrying battery acid and little salt crystals around my body. Then an emptiness. At first, I thought it was in my stomach, but having sat quietly with it for some time now, I have learned th...