July 6, 2012

July 6, 2012

(inspired by James Schuyler’s June 30, 1974)

The hottest day on record and

I have melted into the center of the earth

And fallen into a molten core of—

Love, there is so much love

Around me that it hurts.

I sweat—it’s not tears, and

I’ll fake that it’s the sun

The reason I feel so bad,

But actually I’m afraid to say

Goodbye and leave all of this . . .

And all of you.

Next year in this hot hell there will be

Only the grass blowing in the wind.

This was composed on a very hot day at Cornerstone Festival in my class on micro-memoir where a dozen of us bonded over words and memories.

One of my participants—I’ll call him Dan. Actually his name was Dan. He is a fellow blogger who approaches his work from a very interesting angle. I’ve heard of people who adopt a persona when blogging. With Memoirous I experiment with tone and voice. For instance I’m not normally sarcastic. People sometimes get the impression I’m outgoing when in actuality I’m a bit on the introverted side. I hate small talk. With writing I get a chance to write and then rewrite. Revising makes me bolder. Extemporizing in conversation traumatizes me.

But Dan took the persona thing to a whole new level—he has reinvented himself, approaching the blog as a character and, like Tolkien, creating a whole world. In his blog he is Jackson Pollack and paints, covering canvases in a whole new way. He also has a wife. I love this idea of immersing oneself. I’ve often heard instructors ask: what’s in your MC’s backpack/purse/fannypack/lunch box. There are exercises to help the writer to “know” their MC (main character). Sometimes the instructor will have the MC write a letter of introduction. Whether any of this actually shows up in the fiction is irrelevant. What is important is understanding the motives of said character.

Have you ever started reading a book and thought—hey I’m not “getting” this character. They seem hastily drawn, sketched out, not full and faceted. That’s because the author hasn’t taken the time to get inside their character. Blogging your character sounds like a great idea. Now if you start blaming the missing ice cream on your character or begin to hold conversations with them—then maybe it’s time for medication.

ATTENTION: Micro-memoir students comment me your July 6, 2012.

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