Last week I posted here some metaphorical musings about a tragic plane crash which was by random chance captured on video by a kid playing with a handycam in his back yard. I pay pretty close attention to the responses that my words generate among my facebook friends and was disappointed that only three of you seemed to get what my point was. I will clarify that point for you today. To me, writing to you all through Facebook is an opportunity to express myself creatively, which is something that I want to devote as much of my time to as possible at this stage of my life and (non)career. You will have by now noted that my style relies heavily upon metaphor and use of language which I hope is original enough to make the reading of these posts worthwhile, and perhaps even entertaining. But you will probably also be conscious of the fact that I am a self-taught writer who has had to learn how to express his style by trying, stumbling, recovering, and carrying on. Its fun and I do it as often as I can. Sometimes I use metaphor and language to put some distance between my own personal experiences and what it is I actually write, in the interests of recasting those experiences in a way which is a bit more universal and perhaps (when I am particularly lucky) even a tiny bit transcendant. Anyway, that is my intent, and I use your responses as a gauge of my success. So what I got from the responses to my plane crash post was that I had put too much of that distance in there and in so doing I missed my target by a mile or two. That post was a metaphor for the final few years of my marriage, which has now come to an end. I am now deep in the process of shedding my baggage, hauling it out to the burn pile, and preparing for a redefinition of the relationship along new and different lines. This redefinition will be characterized by civility, respectfulness, and truth, and what comes out of it will be better for everyone involved. Because this constitutes a lot of very hard work which has only just barely begun, I am going to ask you all to cut me a little slack in the coming months and, if you do wish to write back in response to this post, please respect me by doing it privately as a message to me and not publically as a comment on this posting. And thats Slim Volumes post for an otherwise unremarkable Thursday, and he will be sticking to it as he corrects course and heads off over the hills toward a different destination.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 18:01:47 +0000