Jacques-Philippe Caresme:
Priest Making an Offering Accompanied by Nymphs and Satyrs (18th century)

Just My Sanity
I write as if my life depended upon it. It doesn't. Almost nothing's more ephemeral than the written word. Even the spoken word outlives it. Unless spoken and shared, writing sits there like a freeze-dried entree, waiting to be reconstituted by breath and tone. Writing's all alone, even if it's been distributed in several languages, even once it’s been designated a best seller. Sales don't have anything to do with it. The most widely misunderstood works in history were also among the most popular. Much can and does go awry when reconstituting an entree. The author's intent might have never been all that apparent to the author, either, so the tea leaf readers who claim to understand blow smoke. Why would any reader care about any writer's intentions? Reading was supposed to be a form of entertainment. Until and unless it's fun, it's always much better left undone. If it's not enjoyable, reading becomes a deplorable act, worse than wasting time, though time might exist solely to provide raw material for producing waste. This writer deliberately wastes his time in the hope that readers might more usefully employ theirs, reconstituting his entrees. My life does not depend upon this exchange, just my sanity.

—

Weekly Writing Summary

This Grace Story casts me as a Goner, as THE Goner in my life, preparing for a brief absence. I’m never more present than just before I’m gone.

Lovis Corinth: Self-Portrait with Skeleton (1896)
"Grace visits just before such exits."
—
In this Grace Story, I recount my latest search for Bitterness, which was, alas, unrequited. I consider the modern state of the brewing industry to have devolved into a Travesty.

William, Hogarth, Printmaker: Beer Street (1751)
"Can anybody find me an ESB, please?"
—
This Grace Story finds me considering the evident ultimate purpose of my existence: Irrelevance. This story proved to be the most popular this week!

Gustavs Klucis (Klutsis): The Development of Transportation: An Important Task of the Five Year Plan, Poster, Print (1929)
"May we all experience the Grace that only achieving our own well-earned Irrelevance could ever provide."
—
This Grace Story describes a move even the most powerful can only ever invoke once, an Anything But That act that utterly undermines every opposition, AKingsGambit.

Charles Gifford Dyer: Seventeenth-Century Interior (1877)
" … positively evolving to the utter astonishment of its recently confident opposition …"
—
This Grace Story explores the experience of Aimlessly, my best description of what tends to happen whenever I attempt to employ some system to accomplish something.

Torii Kiyomitsu 鳥居清満: Man Fitting Arrow to Bow (Edo period, 1615-1868)
"I hope I will be finished by sometime next week."
—
This Grace Story further illuminates my summer of discontent. In it, I consider the source of my continuing Whelming sensations and whether they require fixing or acceptance.

Still Image, Periodical illustration, by unknown photographer: Bodies recently discovered at Pompeii,  in the same position as when overwhelmed by the ashes of Vesuvius (1893)
"Why would I expect anything to feel any different now?"
—
I feel as though I should apologize for this week's writing. Some of it seemed too self-pitying, though I'd rank three pieces as among my best. I was tempted to forego the whole Weekly Writing Summary this week because the net of the effort seemed more grand than warranted, but I decided to stick with my tradition instead. I can be confident that goodness will pass on the good days, same as with the bad ones. I began this writing week as a Goner, leaving my desk overlooking the center of the universe to travel over to the other side of the state. This was before The King's Gambit happened, so it was in the before times. The final night of before times found me in a Travesty of a tavern searching in vain for a bitter beer. The day after The King's Gambit, I was not quite ready to describe it, so I fell back on explaining how my purpose might be to achieve a pleasing Irrelevance. Then I wrote about our brilliant President, who put all the hankie twisters in their place with a stunning single act of grace, A King's Gambit. The week's balance found me wandering in relative wilderness, first Aimlessly, then just Whelming. In weeks like this, I feel most grateful (and a bit embarrassed) that you're still following along. Thank you! Next week, it will be August already!

©2024 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Grace