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Open Poetry #24
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The Man Who Wrote On Everything
| Open Poetry #24 |
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The Man Who Wrote On Everything |
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Ratleader
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass 
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The Man Who Wrote On Everything There was a man, wrote poems on everything; on napkins, shingles, on a crepe, scrawled couplets on the backs of business cards; scrolled sonnets down a roll of toilet paper once, I think. I wasn't there to see it. Some of those were lost, though sycophants did what they could to save them afterward. Therein lies the problem. It was tragic, really, putting verses everywhere like that. He'd lose all track of where he was and what was going on, just grab a pen and something flat, go crazy ‘til the thing was full. He wrote on towels, made sheets of sheets, of baseball caps, a runway model's chest -- he wrecked a tile store once, the bill horrendous. Never rightly valued them, though fans of course collected everything to scan and print in books. He'd scribble in the margins and just shrug when publishers complained. Then too, each thing he wrote on lost its purpose, turned into, well, just another surface for a poem. And the fuss when TV people made it news and tried to interview him! Picture Connie Chung, a haiku strung across her forehead to the eyebrows. End of story, and she wouldn't hold still for the scanner. Like I said, the tragedy was that things lost their purpose and he lost a little too with every one although the sycophants kept saving what they could. It's tragic too, the way he died. One day he wrote an ode (unfinished) all across his windshield, right there on the 405. They had to piece it back together speck by speck to read it, by which time he'd lost the chance to finish. Yet they haven't given up, and they're still waiting. Seems they buried him and left the tombstone blank, in case the spirit moves him one more time. Each day somebody brings a freshly sharpened pencil, and they hold a little séance there on birthdays, hoping still. Ed Ratledge AKA Ratleader |
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| © Copyright 2003 Ed Ratledge - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Kethry Member Rara Avis
since 2000-07-29
Posts 9082Victoria Australia |
Ratleader, sounds like he had a focussed point of view and a persistent personality. Some graffiti artists are like that. You wrote this well with a sense of mania, as if you were writing feverishly to get it all down. Kethry Here in the midst of my lonely abyss, a single joy I find...your presence in my mind. Unknown |
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Duncan Member Ascendant
since 2001-08-07
Posts 5455 |
He wrote on towels, made sheets of sheets, of baseball caps, a runway model's chest -- Nothing wrong with that...lol! Liked the blank tombstone and the obsessive vein. |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Ed, you had me turning every which way with this... first, "stop writing about me", second..."don't DO this to yourself" third... I understand... and fourth? It made me think of James Dean, but he didn't die on the 405... Excellent! |
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Ratleader
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass |
LOL -- I WAS working feverishly! At the time I was all-too-close to (and downwind from, ecch!) an open sewer manhole, trying to look busy enough to seem important, while a crew was installing an odor control device in the pipe. Not a pretty scene..... ------------------------------ |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Ed...obsessed on the 405, not a pretty way to die. Enjoyed the story in this and the way it was written, with a touch of wit. |
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Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191Cape Cod Massachusetts USA |
I'm still chuckling at the Connie Chung visage... And I'll be expecting an update on the next birthday...  |
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Kielo Senior Member
since 2002-02-11
Posts 1109 |
This was excellent. Kielo I know only one thing, and that thing is that I know nothing. |
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BluesSerenade Member Patricius
since 2001-10-23
Posts 10549By the Seaside |
He'd scribble in the margins and just shrug Neat write, you're good! |
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Ratleader
since 2003-01-23
Posts 7026Visiting Earth on a Guest Pass |
Sometimes you laugh as you write 'em. I did with this one -- it was completely no-holds-barred. With this kind of subject you can write ANYTHING that comes into your head! I'd just finished reading a book of Alfred Brendel's poetry and three of Billy Collins, back to back....talk about an overdose.... |
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