Hotep,
Let me ask you a question, Blogosphere: Do you think a
writer should know the content of his/her expressions before they are actually
written? Marinate on that for a minute,
before we proceed. Okay.
For the record, I won’t deny the validity of the cliché, “Failing
to plan is planning to fail.” I am in total compliance with the direction of
always having a plan. However, I do
experience a certain thrill whenever I stare at a blank piece of paper, without
the slightest hint of knowing what is going to be written between the
lines. Watching those lines fill up with
words – conjugating perspectives and emotions that reach all corners of the
globe – is a thrill well worth the risk of being labeled as a failure.
My creative writing class instructor, Jonathan Wison –
Hartgrove, came up with an accurate analogy that best defines this literary
tactic of learning the significance of your words. Mr. Hartgrove views the writer as a hunter
unsure of what he/she is hunting for.
The hunter delves into the wilderness with an inexplicable hunger that
leads him/her to capture whatever is needed to satiate his/her appetite, in
this case; a literary appetite. Feel me?
Sometimes I write as a means of looking for something within
myself. The mystery of not knowing
specifically what I’m looking for is easily solved by the responses others have
toward my work.
That may sound strange,
but it has proven to be nothing but the truth.
E.g. I didn’t realize that I was speaking for the vast majority of
N.C.’s death row, when I wrote, “Blood On My Sleeves: the shade of reproof.”
It was the acceptance of the expression after reading it to
others that helped me to understand why those particular words were revealed to
me. Because of this, I have no qualms
about debunking the troubled philosophies that support the usage of capital
punishment in today’s modern era.
Capital punishment is a subject matter possessing grisly
overtones that often subjects the messenger – whether the argument is in support
of, or opposed to capital punishment – to societal furor. So, in following Mr. Hartgrove’s analogy of
being a literary hunter, I would have to say that capital punishment is the
grizzly bear of topics. This is my
life’s work, so I will always be equipped to tackle the big game. Capital punishment defines my literary
huntsman ship. Word is bond!
I had no idea today’s class (4/15/14) would inspire my
latest literary expression. I feel that
I can write about any subject matter within the grasp of my knowledge. If the topic requires basketball commentary,
then I’m capable of giving my audience an in-depth depiction of basketball
particulars. Just keep in mind; a
rudimentary task doesn’t change my characteristics as a literary hunter of the
judicial grizzly bear; capital punishment.
My hunt will always display that tactics of a hunter well
aware that he is the hunted. Whatever is
to be found in the wilderness is incapable of eluding my disparagement for
capital punishment. Ya heard?
Always 100,
MannofStat
Copyright © 2014 by Leroy Elwood Mann
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