Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Another Sandburg poem.
I bought the complete collected works of Carl Sandburg yesterday at a secondhand bookstore in Ottawa – and am sufficiently enamoured of this poem to post it here. It’s a great one for reading outloud. I’m in love with Sandburg at the moment.
Hammers Pounding
Grant had a sledgehammer pounding and pounding and Lee had a sledgehammer pounding and pounding
And the two hammers gnashed their ends against each other and broke holes and splintered and withered
And nobody knew how the war would end and everybody prayed God his hammer would last longer than the other hammer
Because the whole war hung on the big guess of who had the hardest hammer
And in the end one side one the war because it had a harder hammer than the other side
Give us a hard enough hammer, a long enough hammer and we will break any nation
Crush any star you name or smash the sun and the moon into flinders.Carl Sandburg, 1915
Waving hello on another election day.
Just popping in to let you all know I’m fine, but was on the road (in Victoria overnight) at the end of last week and am away again (Ottawa) this week which always cuts into my blogging time. Not that I stop writing, but sporadic wireless access and all-day meetings make me less inclined towards the online journal.
But it would be remiss of me to let this day pass without posting something, however brief, on the fact the polls have opened in the US election and by the end of today (hopefully) we will have a marginally less dangerous world to live in. I say marginally because even though Obama promises to take the troops out of Iraq, all his talk about Afghanistan makes me twitchy. But that aside, universal health care and college tuition assistance (both relatively cheap in the grand scheme of things) are also Obama promises and would, over time, significantly change the face of the United States as shown at recent McCain rallies (broadcast to the world on YouTube). Something needs to be done about that, really. Like an education system that works.
Because Obama is just another candidate in the same old tired capitalist system, I can’t hold out much hope for fundamental change of the variety promised. Though it has been fun to watch McCain sputter on about the “class warfare” launched by the Democrats, and the frothing hordes at the rallies going on about the evils of Marxism are as cute as any white redneck can be – making this a much more amusing and engaging election for me. Particularly when you realize the things feared and criticized (voter enumeration ala ACORN, universal health care, higher taxation levels for the rich, tuition subsidy, gun control etc) are pretty much symbols of Canadian civil society. Somehow it’s tickling to realize that the worst of the US electorate is terrified of living in Canada. Canada! For the love of Pete – it’s a den of socialist thieves out to steal Joe the Plumber’s money!
Now that’s something to fear people. Just stay away, and no one will get hurt. (Please, please stay away!)
Not surprisingly, international polling shows that Obama is the clearly favoured candidate in all of the industrial western democracies with majority approval in Canada, Sweden, Japan, Mexico, the UK, etc. by a fairly wide margin. And no doubt the whole world is watching today to see if the US continues its long march to the far right (economically, socially, politically) despite the clear failings of a deregulated economic system, or if a journey back to the middle is in order. Because as much as we are all “sovereign” nations, the US political/economical current is one that sweeps us all up and forces the same ideology down through the IMF and the World Bank. It seems a truism in Canada, if there is any chance of getting rid of Harper in the next term we must first see Obama elected down south, and see the policies of the far right thoroughly discredited in that arena.
And it’s not like those watching want Obama to do too much except perhaps rein in the attack dogs of capitalism a wee bit so we can be left to govern socially instead of according to simple (ie Republican) economics. Despite the fact that a Democratic victory seems assured, I won’t believe it until it’s true, and even then I won’t be so sure of what it means until a little while in. Which means going back to my regular state, mostly ignoring US politics and cringing a lot. What else can one do?
Subscribing.
I’ve noticed recently I’ve got quite a few new readers here and just wanted to point out that subscribing to this blog is an option. See the link on the right hand side makred Subscribe? Go there, punch in your email address and voila! You will receive an update each time I post (rarely more than once a day), which also serves to remind you that I’m still here and writing. Just wanted to make sure you knew.
Validating identity is motivation enough.
I had forgotten the nitpickiness of writing and how much I enjoy turning phrases over and over until they flow just right. With the blog, it’s all just and whatever I want to say – a minor edit before publishing – but little finessing otherwise. Not so with poems and other pieces. It’s been both obsessive and fun this week, and I’m just grateful that I’ve got friends willing to read things more than once (not to mention that supportive Brian I keep writing about – he gets even more excited than I do about the finished stuff).
It’s weird though, working on all this polished stuff and posting none of it here – after four and a half years of publishing everything except my most private journals in this space. But according to most magazines and journals – even self-publishing on the web is considered “prior publication” – a no-no when submitting work for consideration. Not that I’m there yet, but I suspect with some of these pieces I will be shortly. At the very least I am working towards a body of work for portfolio purposes in the future (should I ever decide to pursue that MFA in Creative Writing) – and it’s important that it appear fresh, even if it has been around for a little while – I don’t need it all google-able back three or four years.
So there are reasons for this withholding – but it does beg the question of why bother with literary magazines and contests and publishers when I could just as easily promote and share my work here. I’m certainly not writing for remuneration, and am not under the illusion that Canadian writers actually make a living this way (a very few do, but most don’t). I don’t aspire to fame through the tiny circles of the lit community – because that would be a very stupid way to go about becoming “known”. And I’m definitely not in need of more to do in my life!
I suppose being published is the validation of identity I can’t get in any other way. That is, I’ve aspired to write since I was five years old, and have written throughout my whole life. I’m sure I’ve expounded here before on the length of time it’s taken to even allow myself the identity I most desired, even as I have been hired to professional writing and leant my words to many causes. A major piece to solidifying that description of myself is of course, external validation – which is partly what I’m working towards now. Certainly it’s not the only motivation to my writing as I sense the ability for real improvement given daily dedication – but it’s a strong one.
It does feel a little though like I’m cheating my most faithful readers by withholding the good stuff after practicing here for so many years – I do hold out hope my blogging will continue to improve as I hone my “literary” stuff. For those of you interested in doing some critiquing, I would be honoured to draw on your reading skills as I continue to improve my practice. And for those of you who aren’t interested, I promise shortly I will at least post here about the material I am working on (for the curious). It may all go nowhere, but I’m hopeful at the moment that there is enough there to build a body of work on and the possibility of publishing somewhere in the future.
Postcards.
I’ve been having trouble catching up on sleep lately, a couple of weeks of not enough and I feel like my days are spent treading rather than floating. It’s the lack of days off and to myself lately, too many demands at once coming in the form of work, people, family obligations. October and April – the two months I’m most prone to overwork – so I’m not surprised. But still, it’s difficult to see the end.
I’m almost done with the first piece of short fiction that I’ve “finished” since I was eighteen. Finished in quotations because I’m not sure that I ever feel anything I’ve written is truly complete. But there is a point at which you let it go, and since I’ve decided to submit this one to the Geist Postcard fiction contest, that point will be later this week. I’m hoping to have another piece to send along with it, which depends entirely on my focus in the next two days.
Whether or not these place in any capacity (it’s a very popular contest), I’m feeling good about my re-engagement with writing these days, even as I reassure myself that it’s not all a big waste of time. I don’t believe other people’s art to be a waste of time – which is a helpful reminder to be a tad gentler on myself.
In any case both of my readers so far have 1) enjoyed the piece, and 2) offered some helpful critique. The thing about postcard fiction (which by definition is a short story under 500 words) is the requirement for careful editing, which is where outside eyes are needed. That removed perspective to ensure the story has actually translated from my imagination to the page. In this instance I believe I have been successful with at least that.
I am waiting for the read of one other writing friend (who I have sent three versions of this to now, each a small tweak on the last) and have pledged not to change another single thing until I do. On Thursday or so I will put this in an envelope and mail it away with hope that at the very least the contest judges won’t secretly laugh at my entry as they bypass it for those more accomplished. As if I would even know if they do.
Really, what’s most important to note is my overwhelming gladness at the fact I have reinstituted my writing practice in the last several weeks (with Brian’s help and support) and from that initial process I have managed to finish at least one piece I wouldn’t have otherwise. Overworked or no, at least the creative outlet is alive and sparking, which makes the exhaustion just that much more bearable.
