03 November 2009

My cat is on Prozac, but I am not.

What I do not need:

1. A diary. I think I had one as an adolescent. Even then I didn't need one the way some people do.

2. Distractions. Perhaps this is because I am naturally distracted by things that shouldn't be distracting. I don't think television could ever fit into my life again, aside from watching football occasionally.

3. Tea. I wish I needed or wanted tea. I grew up drinking tea all of the time, but that's because my mom made it for me. I'd like to be a tea drinker. I'm just not.

4. Reading for pleasure. Don't hit me. I just don't get to elect to read something because it's enjoyable. Often, however, I do find myself liking the things I have to read.

5. More than 5.5 hours of sleep per night. I hear you're supposed to get more than that.


What I do need:

1. At least one instance of unexpected beauty every day. Today I viewed some ominous clouds in the distance, and they were exactly what I needed to see at that moment.

2. Typos, and other language mistakes that remind me how playful words can be.

3. The uncanny. I need this even more than coffee.

4. Something small and furry that sneaks around my house, yet ultimately ignores me. I have four of these at present. That's not counting the ones I'm just imagining are there.

5. A wee bit of competitiveness. I am not proud of this. Sometimes I need to intimidate myself in order to get inspired.

4 comments:

Justin Evans said...

What I do not need:

I do not need to teach English any more. I give way too much of myself when I teach Language Arts and get nothing in return.

What I need:

I need to find my own language context for my poems. I am still writing from a place where other people dominate what I say and how I say it.

Jehanne Dubrow said...

God, I love the Uncanny. I kind of want this obsession to be my next poem project.

Meagan said...

What you need #4: Sounds like a big mouse problem... 4 can become 40 pretty fast. Maybe you should get a cat or two to take care of that... 0:-D

Joannie Stangeland said...

Love the uncanny and the beautiful.

Confess that when I see the typos, I feel the need to correct them (having worked for years as an editor).

Thanks for the post.

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