One line
A birthday gift I received (after the event), 'A Little Book on Form' written by Robert Hass, has been on my reading pile. Not the kind of book to be read cover-to-cover, it requires savouring, time to absorb and practice with the examples given.
The first chapter is rather unsurprisingly entitled 'One', not to denote chronological order, rather the use of a single line.
'A single line is a naked thing’
Prior to having received this belated gift, I’d invited my women’s writing group to write using singular lines, without the need to follow-on from its predecessor. This somewhat random approach allowed the letting go of not only 'form', but the need to 'create'. Too often we approach our writing from a place of, 'I want to write a poem / essay / blog'. Laying down thoughts, ideas ultimately bring freedom from writing’s expectation. Well, it’s not the writing that has any expectations, it those we impose on ourselves during the process.
One such master on the single line can be found in Chris La Tray's, 'One Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large' - it is an absolute gem and a constant go to on my bookshelf. La Tray writes:
'The idea is to highlight a daily thought, or a moment [...] in an effort to be more aware in the world'.
As I write, it has been a week of shall we say, of highlighted moments.
Firstly, Will Smith’s slap. Not exactly one line, moreover one word which has carried more weight than Smith may have intended given the repercussions. Enough has been written elsewhere on this that negates me wading in on the topic other than it’s never good to witness violence against another person.
Suffice to say it overshadowed the wonderful care and attention of Lady Gaga to Liza Minnelli at the Oscars telling her ‘I got you’. If you’ve somehow overlooked this beautiful moment, please take a look at this clip – the unfairness of Alzheimer’s is that it robs the person and everyone around them of so much. Memories are intrinsic to what makes us human and that loss is debilitating.
Speaking of loss, day 1 of NaPoWriMo featured the previously mentioned Hass’ offering ‘A Story About the Body’ – here the loss is a woman’s breasts through mastectomy. This divided the writing community I am connected with given the composer’s response to not sleep with her in not one, but two lines,
‘I’m sorry. I don’t think I could’.
Many have ventured the poem is ‘remarkable’ and ‘haunting’. Others disagreed.
Perhaps what needs to be mentioned is the women of said group were triggered with this prose poem, whereas the men within the group felt there was too much emotional response being attached to it. Their responses were, well let’s just say ‘unwelcome’.
Divisiveness is prevalent everywhere, whether you view Chris Rock as deserving of the attack or not.
Other prominent one liners are news headlines which can also be contentious. Not only grabbing our attention, but telling the micro story for those not willing to read any further. Given our attention spans have been reducing, if the figures released by Microsoft last year are to be believed, none of this will be of consequence in a week’s time, yet that’s part of the problem. Do we give anything the time needed to understand the full story and complexities that arise as a result, or simply trust the sensationalism to reinforce our opinions or biases?
Many online sites will let you know how long an article will take to read. Is that so we can determine whether we have the necessary focus to give to the article, and also respecting its author for the time they took to write? Or does it serve to reinforce how little time we seem to have to give anything any real sense of value and understanding?
I will leave you with this final one line:
Time is the wisest counsellor of all - Pericles