October 9, 2006

You Never Can Tell: Autumn Poem

The Internet and life continue to amaze me. Simple things become huge and the sure bets wither. It’s always been that way and will, I guess, continue.

Let me explain.

On Friday, September 22, 2006, I got up at 6:00 am to begin working on my collection of short stories tentatively titled, “Who’s your Daddy?” and Other Stories. My usual ritual before writing is to surf the net to free up my mind and to get the brain cells going. I popped over at Stephen Bess to see what was going on over at his place. As I was reading the comments from the usual suspects (ToastedSuzy, Sumeeta , Stunuh Jay, urban butterfly and Guyana-Gyal ), I noticed that Rethabile had posted this: “Challenge: It is a nice picture indeed. The challenge is to complete the following sentence: "It is Autumn, and this road..." A sentence, not a poem. Anyone? Friday, September 22, 2006 6:22:48 AM

So, I got to work writing the poem. Honestly, I was just looking at the picture (it reminded me of a park in South Florida) and thinking about the time when a girlfriend of mine (she’s now my wife) were on the verge of breaking up. I remembered how I felt at the time-- that it was all over and that I was happy just to have spent the brief life and times with her. Everybody had said our relationship wasn’t going to last and I figured, they were right. I wrote the poem in that mood, and then turned my attention to trying to figure out the next thing that of one my characters was going to do. You see, I have to ask my characters. If they don’t feel like talking that morning, they won’t. Some of them who are Tricksters in true Anancy fashion will lead me down a path of 1000 words or more, only to leave me high and dry, so the next morning I have to begin at the crossroads where on the morning before they’d left me. The next morning, some of them hide when they see me; some pretend as if nothing happened. Some try to kiss me and tell me they won’t do it again (I pretend to believe some of them and with others I really do believe). And some, especially the women, walk up brazen-faced with their calico dresses, flopping in the wind and sit down beside me: “Is everything all right, Geoff? What’s botherin’ you, hon? Tell me. If is that Guyana-Gyal again, I will go down there and cut her you know. I will cut her!” And I have to say, “No, it’s all right, darling. It’s all’s all right.”

Some just laugh and say, “Fooled you!”

After writing the poem, I didn’t think anything else and went about my business. However, this morning as I was checking out my statistics on 103bees that was mentioned in Darren Rowse’s, Problogger (which I recommend for tips about blogging), I noticed this amazing statistic:

103bees Search Term Analytics: Top landing pages

Webpages with most search engine hits - last 7 days
  1. /2006/09/autumn-poem.html : 124 hits
  2. /2006/04/bob-marley-and-seven-chakras.htm..:40 hits
  3. http://geoffreyphilp.blogspot.com: 32 hits
  4. /2006/05/meanings-of-bob-marleys-songs_03...: 28 hits
  5. /2006/02/happy-birthday-mervyn-morris.htm...: 26 Hits
  6. /2006/07/fable-of-freedom-i-shot-sheriff....: 23 hits
  7. /2006/06/happy-birthday-martin-carter.htm..: 18 hits.
  8. /2006/05/how-will-our-stories-be-told.htm..: 15 hits
  9. /2006/02/happy-birthday-tony-winkler.html: 14 Hits
  10. /2006/08/reggae-rastafari-and-aesthetics....: 12 hits

I’ve only listed the top ten and the tables (not supported by Blogger) are much more user-friendly. 103bees has a whole list of other services that have sometimes helped me figure out my next post, especially when my characters are sulking and wanting to go their own way.

I guess my point is you never can tell what will grow and flourish and what will wither. Posts that I spent hours writing have do not have as many hits as “Autumn Poem,” which I wrote in less than an hour.

I know, I know, it’s a seasonal thing, so this, too, will pass. And, no, I don’t have any conscious plans to write winter or spring poems.

One thing I do know is, win or lose, I will continue to be as honest as I can be in all my writing (blogs, short stories, plays, novels, and poems), and continue to wish I had the time to devote the maximum time to write about all the characters/ideas that are in my head.

Now, the big challenge will be to find a publisher or an agent for “Who’s your Daddy?” and Other Stories.

What do you think?

6 comments:

Professor Zero said...

I like the title of that short story collection!

One of my students wrote a dissertation entitled "Who's My Daddy?" It was about incest and miscegenation in 19th century Latin American literature -- all of these characters who do not know for sure who their father is, usually because he is in the big house ... and who, therefore, are not sure who their siblings are and are not, either. What this student did with the material was pretty eye opening, I wish it would get revised and published...

Geoffrey Philp said...

Dear Professor Zero,
Welcome!
Give thanks for that nugget! Right now, I'm exploring the idea with the creative side of my brain and haven't yet thought it through within the literary tradition. But, yes, that does make sense.
1 LOve,
Geoffrey

Stephen A. Bess said...

Hello friend! I like the idea of your characters protecting you. :) That's cool.

I write all of my post in a an hour or less. I often wonder what it would be like if I spent hours writing them. Would they be better or too detailed???
I'm just gettting back from a long weekend. I had a chance to work on some short stories this weekend. I'm just writing them and going back to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. :)

I'm finally getting things going. I'm excited! Peace to you and have a great day. I'll post something today???

Geoffrey Philp said...

Stephen, the really detailed posts on reggae aesthetics or subjects like that are usually written on the weekends, so that I can give full thought to them. They usually take more than a hour and several rewrites. Blogging allows me to develop my thoughts that way. I know some within academia look down on these things, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Writing is a form of discovery for me. Every writer is different. Some are plantains, some are mangoes, some are star-apples. I never knew my characters were going to come to my rescue when I started writing the post, but they do whatever they want. God bless em.

Peace,
Geoffrey

PS Good luck with the stories.

Anonymous said...

Cross talk: to Stephen: your posts are good as they are, and an hour or less is good, since it gives you time to (a) write them, (b) go have the adventures you tell us about in them, and (c) write the short stories. :-)

Anonymous said...

Stephen and Geoffrey, do keep writing. We're reading.