Sunday, December 23, 2007

LYING POETS

While I was wading knee deep through the Westheight River...

Sounds good, doesn't it? I think so. But it isn't true. It wasn't even ankle deep. More over, Westheight isn't a river. Just a street. Still, it was raining heavily, and all that snow was melting, melting, melting, and Westheight may as well have been a river while I walked there with my seemingly drowned retriever.

We took a turn, and wended our way to a path along the creek. But Creek we did not find. She had been taken over by Thundering River, eager to get where ever he was going, at a speed of one hundred miles an hour. And the ducks loved it. Without using their wings, they were flying down that river, laughing.


And while I was wading knee deep through the Westheight River, dreams of a white Christmas were gurgling down the drain. Like the “Rain in Spain.” It was two days past winter solstice with the promise of every day a little bit more light. What a sunny thought!!!

I was thinking about all these things while wading knee deep through the Westheight River, wondering where that quiet creek had gone. Wondering about truth and non truth.

Is writing about telling the truth? Is the truth poetic? I like language to sound like music. Writing is like weighing words. Strike a balance. Add a word here, take one away there, arrange them. Make them sound like music Make them sing.

I could have started with, “I walked on Westheight Road with my dog. It was raining hard. We sloshed through lots of water...

That would have been the truth. But what is truth? That what I see outwardly, or what I experience inwardly? What sounds nice, and what sounds blah? Who's the judge?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I changed the title to Poet's Lies.

w.t.

Anonymous said...

Truth and lies intrigued me in the writing of Tending Memories. Interior truths vs. physical or historical truth. The world of the imagination has its own truth.

I really like this piece you've written, Wild Thing.

May you have a wild-river, duck water-flying kind of Christmas - imaginatively speaking.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas! (I'm also writing this last note to see if my link works on my name... and it does - cool.)

Anonymous said...

I know. I was thinking about your book too, as soon as I wrote the sentence, "...wondering about truth and non truth...."

We're fortunate to know that other world, aren't we? Adds so much colour to existance, even colours that are invisable to some, and have never been named.

It seems that the angels are contemplating to send us a white Christmas afterall. They send the flaky stuff through the icy fingers of Father winter, who blows them around with arctic breath. Still, I found it rather pleasant outside, in spite of tricky ice devils making the ground very trippy, slippy, ready to flip you on your butt.

w.t.

Anonymous said...

Well, Wild thing, it is seven in the morning on Christmas morn, and Santa has arrived, and the family sleeps, except for Farley, who is begging for some Buddig sandwich meat.... and since it is Christmas, he gets it! I am contemplating all the good things in life, including Tim Horton's coffee and wondering if there is such a thing today... I look out my window at the drive-thru across the way, and it looks pretty empty...

Peace and goodwill, and joy to the world... these carolling words still hold true in our modern age... that is comforting that they stretch across time and still hold meaning... a common connection/wish that joins this time and past times and hopefully future times.

Peace and goodwill, Netty, and joy in your world.

Anonymous said...

Do they still hold true because of it keeps on being what we need to wish for? Is there more lack of peace, good will, and joy in the world, than there is contentment? I wonder.

How would it be without dominating powers, without war,without opposites?

Would living be boring? I knew someone, long ago, a musician and artist, of course, (those are the kind of people I am drawn to)who argued that if life was perfect, there would not be discontent, because discontent does not fit into a perfect world.

Mmmmm, I often think about that. Could there even be life without opposites? Is contrast what colours life?

Will there always be evil? Does life need evil? Do evil and good need to be in the right proportions? Balance? Does too much evil cripple life? Does too much good retard life?

What are good and evil? Does evil walk around with a good face? Does what seems good really do harm?

Could there be joy, if sorrow and despair hadn't gone before?

How limited our view. And yet we do sense that there are ways that two and two do not count up to four. Fear denies that fact. I guess as long as that fear exists, we will go on singing, "Joy to the world, peace and good will to Man. (Man being the species altering what is.)

Well, I had a good breakfast with my friend Marion accross the street, at her place. This has become our Christmas tradition over the years. Christmas dinner I will enjoy with other neighbours/friends. Hopefully Nigel finds he can take a break from driving since 5 this morning, stop the taxi for a while and come in for a quick bite to eat, before he has to start the stretch to 4 o'clock in the morning.

I've had several friends in life that were/are manic depressive, or a less upsetting label, bi-polar. Nigel being one. Such wonderful people. Yet they are medicated to fit in. The high and low opposites in one person. I sometimes wonder if in fact, the universe means it that way. Nature isn't orderly. Not even safe...

How's that for late Christmas morning philosofies? Want to hit me over the head with a frying pan? LOL.

w.t.

PS. Simon snores, flaked out on the futon behind me. 'slong as he gets his walks, food treats and lots of love... what else matters?

Anonymous said...

I see "joy to the world" and "peace and goodwill to man" as a spontaneous outpouring - a desire to share the joy one feels. I don't see it as a lament of things that are wrong with the world.

Yes, life would be boring with perfection. Save it for eternity. Time means imperfection. And there is beauty in imperfection, as you know, as you are the artist.

Depression is a hard one... to take off the edge is to lose a bit of oneself, but when you look at the whole, one can't live in the fast lane all the time, and the slow lane can be fine. Moderation - I live there often. Long slow distance - LSD as an acronym - and one can accomplish great things. Spurts of speed aren't required necessarily. There is beauty as well in control. Running the long slow race with containment - running it well. Sprinting isn't all it is claimed to be...

Did any of that make sense? LOL!

Anonymous said...

You are right. "Joy to the World" is a true emotion. A spontaneous one. And there is the peace inside you that makes it seem like the world is at peace. Joy and peace will always be. "Goodwill" is an extension of that. If there are joy and peace inside you, how can goodwill toward others stay behind?

They even exist in the midst of war.

Health is an important componant. Physical as well as emotional health. When body and/or mind are unbalanced how much is one responsible for his/her actions?

Things important to learn, so it seems, are understanding, forgiving, patience, and sharing.

A simple formula for the most difficult things in life.

w.t.