HOMAGE TO WRITERS
by
Anthonystjoseph
Every so often I get mad at myself and
feel that I have let the universe down because I haven’t created and spread as
many of my stories as possible during my lifetime. And then I watch, see, or read a story or
program like ‘House of Lies’, to name one, where a writer puts together the
words, “If an abortion clinic were a Subway you would already qualify for a
free sandwich” and I die with joy after laughing and knowing that there are
other writers out there with my wit…
My favorite writers are John Irving,
Richard Bach, and even Harold Robbins himself who believably penned a nurse
using her own personal technique of pure raw sex to give a paraplegic the
ability to walk again. And I can never
share these sentiments without mentioning the first author to ever get me to
love the ability to read and that author was Jacqueline Susann. I had used my documented above average
intelligence to graduate from high school with honors without ever reading a complete
book or novel and had no desire too. I had
even started writing my first book before ever completely reading one. It was the gift of a Jacqueline Susann novel
showing up in my life and then going on a long field mission in the Army when I
opened the book and consequently opened a whole new world of travel through
reading; immersing myself into an alternate world through words. I will never forget how hard I laughed in
reading her novel when she had a character go into the bathroom not feeling
well and having “an explosive bowel movement”; her book was incredible and I
almost forgot I was on field duty in the Army while reading her words. I came home from field duty and in an
extremely excited state told a good friend how fascinated I was with this new
concept of reading a good book.
The friend, who was also in the Army, just
kept looking at me and smiling while I described my joy in detail. In hindsight, it seemed this friend was more
than a friend but someone who knew what was happening. It seems in hindsight that this friend knew
something more because as he smiled and my joy waned in exhaustion at
explaining it, my friend stood up. He
seemed to know that he was completing his mission and the writer was born and
set on his path; me. He went to a drawer
and then pulled out a first edition book and then handed it to me and said, “If
you liked that book so much, you should read this.” He had handed me a first edition copy of
James Baldwin’s ‘Just Above My Head’.
The universe wanted to solidify the love
of reading and writing with me and with James Baldwin’s book ‘Just Above My
Head’ the deed was done. I loved
Jacqueline Susann’s book and it introduced me to entertaining words but I fell
deeply into an abyss of adoration with James Baldwin’s book.
Other writers give me comfort… Writers like Aloe Blacc and his cowriters who
wrote, “God made my mold different from the rest; then he broke that mold so I
know I’m blessed…” I love writers. I love wit.
I love creation.
By
Anthonystjoseph
All works copyrighted © and protected by law
No comments:
Post a Comment