Saturday, September 04, 2004

Late drinking

Robin Williams, the great comic, once said, and I quote: "If alcohol is a crutch then Jack Daniels is the wheel chair." I tend to go for the cheaper drunk. I'm a Jim Beam man. If I can get it, I'll drink J.D., but I became a J.B. man in college. I mean, when you're in college the difference between a fifth of Jim Beam and Jack Daniels is the price of a cheap sixer. Always go for the cheaper shit, right? (As I've matured I have discovered that cheap beer is not necessarily the best way to go... fyi and disclaimer all at the same time). So, to get back to Robin Williams: maybe Jack Daniels is the wheelchair; let's call Jim Beam the wallker, shall we? That sounds like a good idea.

I wrote a poem tonight on my way home from work. This is a big deal for me. I write poetry. It may not be very good poetry, but I write it. The fact that I wrote a poem is important, at least to me. Why? I have had some serious writers block lately. Its been horrible. I haven't been able to write anything. Tonight, though, I wrote something. Here it is:

humidity stacks up
on my shoulders pushing

down

shallow breaths &
a subtle whistle—a hanged
man breaths better

air thick like
thighs & wet like
just finished
sex

sheets tangled
&

knotted

I'm not sure it will win any big awards, but the very fact that it was written is a big step for me. I'm going to buy the book Poetry Markert and I'm going to force myself to submit poetry to lit journals. I'm sure I'll get a drawer full of rejection notices, but damnit, I want to be published. "Self- publishing" on the 'net doesn't count either. I want someone to say "K, your poetry is very good. We want to publish the poems you sent to us." I want that.

1 comment:

rebekah said...

oh i liked the line about the hanged man. listen to me you: ive got a folder full of your poems that i yanked from your OD, and there's one in particular (the one titled, if memory serves, literary stigmata) that i whip out and read when i get blocked. it helps. trust me. ive been blocked a lot lately, too. cant quite explain why...