The opening of my section two of the manuscript:
Never any further than a door. A window with meticulously wiped interior, exterior collecting dust, insects, fingerprints, water-stains, high velocity eggs. A bed collecting memories, obscure internal dialogs, and crisp photographs of distant quasars.
The door, unlocked, may be used to enter, but quitting the room is another matter. Permissions must be granted. Approval is difficult to come by. Water still runs from the tap and periodically refills the toilet. Newspapers gather at the foot of the recliner. The stories on their pages were set in type and plated many ages ago, perhaps even at the beginning of all things. Joylessness may be imagined, but in truth holds no meaning--stillness also may be indicative of freedom from desire or trepidation, of deliberation, or (why presume the lofty) that someone has been smuggling horse tranquilizers to your beloved mentor.
Through the mess of a window you have seen him frying up a tube of sausages. He spends days in front of the television, nearly motionless. Has he been using his magical powers to pay the utilities? His prophetic visions to determine the solutions to tomorrow's daily jumble?
It would be good, you surmise, to free him from this drudgery, but--it will occur to you--into what?
3 comments:
Does this signify a shift in tone? Just curious. Granted, it has been a while since we last sat together looking at manuscripts, but although I recall a shift into the 2nd person, I am not recalling this particular tone, per se. I'm just trying to place myself. The sentences feel different. Not in a bad way. Just in a different way. And I doubt the space of the comment box is the place for us to have this discussion. And I'm not really saying anything other than this. Because I'd rather say something when we speak and when you have a chunk of text and when I can look at it and relax into the language. And then we will smoke cigarettes and discuss what it means to shift.
On a separate note, I'm glad that you're writing again. On this, I mean.
what it means to shift... I hope we can have this discussion in a tent with a polite and gregarious woman frequently interrupting to tell us she's trying to call her manager at home to decide how much to charge for a croissant, and that, sorry, she doesn't have one.
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