A weblog devoted to spurring a conversation among those who use words to varying degrees in their daily work. Hosted by John Ettorre, a Cleveland-based writer and editor. Please email me at: john.ettorre@gmail.com. "There comes a time when you realize that everything is a dream, and only those things preserved in writing have any possibility of being real." --James Salter
More Poetic Take on the NotionI'm a Cleveland, Ohio-based writer, editor and writing coach, with more than 25 years of experience, including stints in Chicago and Washington, D.C. My work has appeared in more than 100 print and online publications, from the New York Times and the Christian Science Monitor to local and regional publications. My work has been recognized by awards (including an Emmy) from four journalism groups.
10 Comments:
Going to the airshow this weekend?
I just wrote an article about the future of air travel over on my Examiner page.
I don't love flying, but since I enjoy spending time with far away friends, it's a necessity.
That's funny that you equated this with the Air Show, which for readers outside my region, is an annual Labor Day event around here. I do hope to catch some of it. I never get bored by watching fast jets screech by. It always gives me a shiver. I'll check out the Examiner piece, Kim. How has that been going for you?
A poem I wrote a few years ago:
FOR F.
Two one-legged men
limping down the road
sharing a single crutch
and each, in turn,
being a crutch to the other.
Both must go on
for neither has the strength to alone
and neither knows how
to leave the other.
16 September 1983
Jim, how wonderful this poem is, and how wonderfully it blends with today's topic. Thank you so much for sharing it. Done right, essential relationships, including those between readers & writers as well as friends, are just that: mutual crutches.
I think we particularly see this with our kids getting older: they don't think they need us, but they do. They can't fly without you. We give them their wings, if we're doing our job.
Example. I'm reminded of the time my 'tween son and I argued all the way to church, culminating in him saying "I don't need you Mom." We sat down in the pew, and he went to the far end of the pew so he wouldn't have to sit anywhere near us.
Twenty minutes into the service, two bees appeared in the church and circled him--nonstop. They wouldn't give up on him.
Slowly--one scoot after another--he came back to my side.#
Thanks for sharing that marvelous little story, Kristine. I think every parent got a smile from that as they read it. I know I did. What's that old saying, about the job of parents? We should give our kids roots as well as wings. The roots part of the equation is sometimes easier than the wings, isn't it?
This quote reminded me of something I read or saw somewhere about people trying to figure out how to eat with very long spoons. The only way to do it was to feed each other. The length of the spoon extended to the other person, but people could not get the spoons into their own mouths. Sorry to be so fuzzy about the source of this. It may have even been a painting from an art history course in college, now that I think about it.
I trust it had nothing to do with spooning, though?
Nothing at all, but I suppose you can't spoon alone either.
I just looked online and found that this is a common story with variations in detail, but the same basic idea. The story is supposed to illustrate the difference between Heaven and Hell. In Hell, people are starving because they are only trying to feed themselves. In Heaven, the people are well-fed because they feed each other.
Wow, that's nice, Jane. Well-fed because they feed each other. That's a resonant idea that will stay with me all day.
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