Monday, June 16, 2008

just a bit of nonsense, really

Since finishing my last project some four weeks ago, I haven't written anything outside the odd journal entry. That there's dedication. I keep telling myself just write. Doesn't work so well. Today I decided instead of watching my fifth episode of "House" in as many hours, I would put my pen to the paper (or my fingers to the keys as the case happened to be). Rather than write anything of substance I decided to take Hemingway's advice "All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." Okay, so I took some literary license and my one true sentence isn't even that true. But there are 7 Post It flags on the yellow drawer of my cardboard shelves :)

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Seven red Post-It flags rapped against the spray-painted cardboard. The dirge continued even after I turned off the ceiling fan. As the sound persisted, I grasped the window ledge and firmly pulled the window closed. Now that the breeze could not infiltrate my sanctuary, I was certain the noise would stop.

For a moment, the plasticized paper stilled, and my heart calmed in relief. Then one rogue took up the verse, and invited his brothers to join on the chorus. Planting my hands over my ears, I suddenly found myself at the door. The motion came upon me so quickly that I only realized the change when I was no longer sitting at my desk. I looked back at my tormentors, and my upper lip curled toward my nose in satisfaction. Laying my hand ever-so gently on the door’s brass handle, I relished the feel of cold metal on my skin.

Slowly, so as not to disturb the air or give my enemies the chance to flutter to martyrs’ deaths, I eased the door back into its frame. With a final care to let the latch settle into the plated notch, I fixed my gaze on the flapping. It faded slowly. Even after I sat back down and the pen found its way back to my fingers, I found myself stealing furtive gazes at the renegades just above eye-level. Occasionally I thought I caught one wiggling, struggling against his binds, but that was just a trick of the eye. I was alone.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Allison, I liked the detail in this piece so much! The post-it-notes were great and the window. I could see the speaker there and feel the desolation. I was a little confused on some of what was happening--who the actors were. Was this intentional?

Allison said...

Thanks Beth! :)
I think I was trying to leave it a little abstract so that the reader questions the speaker a little bit and feels the tension. The only other "characters" present are the flapping post-it flags. By personifying them I was trying to really tell the experience from the perspective of the speaker, as (s)he was perceiving things happen. I can understand the confusion though :) It would probably be clearer if I referred to the speaker's tormentors more explicitly a few times :)