AM⌭PM | 009
Early
My family and I are staying at my in-law's lake house, which is a beautiful place. I woke up at about 5:45 am today and started to write at 6:07 am. Soon other people will wake up. The plan is to make pancakes. I'm feeling very American Midwestern.
I've been reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. This is one of those books I bought when I was in my 20's, but I never got around to reading. (There is still a Borders Books sticker on the back!)
Miller is crass, vulgar, disrespectful, and unapologetic about it. He would never be published today because if anyone dared to publish his writing, they would be canceled by association. Be that as it may, Miller crafts sentences that are so good.
To sing you must first open your mouth. You must have a pair of lungs, and a little knowledge of music. It is not necessary to have an accordian, or a guitar. The essential thing is to want to sing.
There are people who cannot resist the desire to get into a cage with wild beasts and be mangled. They go in even without a revolver or a whip. Fear makes them fearless... [...] The drama, he thinks, is going on inside the cage. The cage, he thinks, is the world, standing there alone and helpless, the door locked, he finds that the lions do not understand his language.
Nobody, so far as I can see, is making use of those elements in the air which give direction and motivation to our lives. [...] Revolutions are nipped in the bud, or else succeed too quickly. Passion is quickly exhausted. [...] Nothing is proposed that can last more than twenty-four hours.
Later
I spent the rest of the day working on an essay. I've got about 2k words of the thing in a rough draft.
Now, there are many things I need to do.
Till tomorrow.
-N