Angst Ridden Rant! Plus a Poem.

I had a lot of freedom as a young child. I was allowed, or encouraged, to do as I pleased, where I pleased, in what was essentially a countryside environment.

And now it is being suggested that my formative years are why I now always want to do things my own way, and why I don't take instruction well.

Worse still I am told that I rally against being told what to do, or how to do it; and so I choose not to argue my corner, our childhoods do form us so much, don't they.

Image courtesy of Danny Lines on Unsplash

So much for beginning sentences with subjects and verbs, as professed by Roy Peter Clark, in his 10th Anniversary edition of Writing Tools. It's not for me.

More to my liking is Josip Novakovich's Fiction Writer's Workshop where he says: As a writer you need a strong sense of independence, of being and thinking on your own - so go ahead, work alone... Ultimately, write in any way that gives you a sense of freedom.

Yes, those are my sort of words of advice, irrespective of subjects, or verbs, or nouns, or pronouns or adjectives; and yes, just for good measure that was a semi-colon I used, as is my want.

I have taken the writing guidance books back, they weren't mine, and most probably never will be, as long as I remain this cantankerous old sod.

Here is the poem:

Bowl

I light a candle for you

Stand it upright in the sand

That the flame flickers for you

Reminds me of your land

Also of hopefulness

And hopelessness

Of happiness

And torturedness 

Into your eyes, your home

Covered by sphagnum moss

Gone are the days of freedom

Gone is the love without loss

I light a second candle

This time for the two who feed

Souls never no more together

Exactly as you might have decreed