Thanks Malcolm. I've tried a little poetry but get "stuck" where to go fairly quickly. I have written quite a number of existentialist pieces since 2020 on the exterior world as you suggest as well as my own inner thoughts and ruminations. I will return to these theme(s) in the near future.
Thanks for taking the time to comment here. Much appreciated.
This article resonated with me so much that I read it through twice. It was an exceptional self-reflective piece without the tiresome padding I feel like I’m seeing more and more online, especially with infra-40 subset of writers and social media influencers who seem to be quite fond of referring to themselves as “life coaches”.
As a child of the ‘70s and fellow writer who feels as if he’s whistling to the dark, the way you parceled out your experience(s) in decades parallels many of my own musings about where I’ve been and where I’m going. I’ve personally found it bewilderingly different I am now from the guy that makes me wince from 2013, the one who makes me sigh from 2003, and the eager young lad of 1993 who was so excited about life and a genuinely likable person.
During the COVID madness, I started reading books online for Librivox.org. I vainly thought this would be the beginning of something grand, perhaps a slew of “by-name requests” from famous authors begging me to read their works. Well, that didn’t happen. And after two years of toiling at the computer, trying to smooth out all the indelicacies (like the “plosives” you mention) and being constantly “scooped” by other volunteer readers whose voices were much better than my own but who would never have known about the obscure as hell story or poem they made famous, without my inferior reading having put it on the map, was discouraging. And after nearly a hundred of these recordings with a handful of “nice job”s in comment fields, I gave up on it.
The power of these old photographs, like the one your mentioned, is also difficult to communicate to people who don’t store their memories in that multisensual and comprehensive way, where it seems as if the sounds and smells were trapped in the same camera click, and where you feel as if you’re reliving the experience.
I agree with David Perlmutter that you have a lot to share. And I hope you continue to post essays like this on your Substack, because I’m a few seconds away from hitting the subscribe button, although I know little about football or cricket. 🙂
Hello Daniel and what an incredibly kind message and thoughts. If the boot were on the other foot so to speak, I could have written and echoed so much of your message. I'm not the man who moved away from his hometown in 1999, my one and only child in 2003, a heart breaking redundancy a year later, the end of what I hoped and believed to be my lifetime love in 2012 and I could go on throughout the past decade, much of which is contained in my writing (not of the cricket or football variety!).
"Social Media Influencers". "Life Coaches". Vacuous nonsense and I have disdain for them all. My writing, whether on sports or existential life, comes from the heart but receives very little merit or attention yet these people seem to bathe in internet success.
Thanks for the insight into your reading(s). I'm currently torn and thinking of handing my books over to others to read but, regardless of the contents of the books (football, cricket and huge volumes of film reviews) are my stories, my viewpoints, and I can't see (or hear) how someone else would do them justice. But........as I've already stated in the article, I've given my reading my all recently and they simply aren't worthy of suitability for Audible etc. Too many plosives and unprofessional sounds and despite trying my utmost with a software suite I am brand new to (and every Youtube help video!), I'm still struggling. I don't want to give up on it and I'm still considering what to do next.
Thank you so much for reading my article (not my usual output although I do delve into the matters of the heart and existentialism a lot, just not to this raw degree) and I truly appreciate your heart felt reply.
Try writing some poetry, blank verse, the exterior world as I see it, peaches seashells, the power of photography, inchworms, etc.
Thanks Malcolm. I've tried a little poetry but get "stuck" where to go fairly quickly. I have written quite a number of existentialist pieces since 2020 on the exterior world as you suggest as well as my own inner thoughts and ruminations. I will return to these theme(s) in the near future.
Thanks for taking the time to comment here. Much appreciated.
I have been a songwriter for over 50 years. I am constantly on the lookout for hooks for songs, a phrase that suggests an expandable
concept.
Jacknifed on the Highway of Fate
Many thanks to Jonathan Potter's poem Sunrise 11/29/2023
This project was inspired
By a poem I had read
So I wrote some words to steer on
What thoughts might come ahead
Love, responsability, and
Working thru the pain
Heavy emotional trauma like
The wrecked husk of a train
On the highway of love,
Jacknifed, I sure liked the sound
But when I wrote that second line
It all got turned around
A truck and trailer jacknifed
Taillights red red red
I quickly, gently eased my brakes
Danger just ahead
Woman sits beside me
Rocking on the seat
She got muffins in the oven
And the asphalt's paved with sleet
Brother don't get jacknifed
On the highway
Of fate
Hello central hospital
I've a delivery to make
My 19 year old's water broke
My heart's bout to break
I pull up to emergency
Nurses coming on the run
My baby got a gurney ride
But she ain't having fun
Girl we just got jacknifed
On the highway
Of fate
Oh brother don't get jacknifed
On the highway of fate
Scan the scene just ahead
Before you take the bait
Be careful who you lie to
Don't bet more than you've got
Make sure your aim is true so
Your piss don't miss the pot
And maybe you won't get jacknifed
On the highway
Of fate
I park the car and jump right out
Fall flat on my face
Face ok but broke my hip
Guess I'll have to like this place
I awake from crazy, crazy dreams
In a semi private room
My doctor says don't worry
You'll all be leaving soon
But be cautious don't get jacknifed
On the highway
Of fate
We got home last evening
Both the girls just fine
But now they call me Grampy Gimp
And I'll hear that for all time
So brother don't get jacknifed
On the highway of fate
Scan the scene just ahead
Before you take the bait
Be careful who you lie to
Don't bet more than you've got
Make sure your aim is true so
Your piss don't miss the pot
And maybe you won't get jacknifed
On the highway
Of fate
Malcolm McKinney 2023
Just sayin
This article resonated with me so much that I read it through twice. It was an exceptional self-reflective piece without the tiresome padding I feel like I’m seeing more and more online, especially with infra-40 subset of writers and social media influencers who seem to be quite fond of referring to themselves as “life coaches”.
As a child of the ‘70s and fellow writer who feels as if he’s whistling to the dark, the way you parceled out your experience(s) in decades parallels many of my own musings about where I’ve been and where I’m going. I’ve personally found it bewilderingly different I am now from the guy that makes me wince from 2013, the one who makes me sigh from 2003, and the eager young lad of 1993 who was so excited about life and a genuinely likable person.
During the COVID madness, I started reading books online for Librivox.org. I vainly thought this would be the beginning of something grand, perhaps a slew of “by-name requests” from famous authors begging me to read their works. Well, that didn’t happen. And after two years of toiling at the computer, trying to smooth out all the indelicacies (like the “plosives” you mention) and being constantly “scooped” by other volunteer readers whose voices were much better than my own but who would never have known about the obscure as hell story or poem they made famous, without my inferior reading having put it on the map, was discouraging. And after nearly a hundred of these recordings with a handful of “nice job”s in comment fields, I gave up on it.
The power of these old photographs, like the one your mentioned, is also difficult to communicate to people who don’t store their memories in that multisensual and comprehensive way, where it seems as if the sounds and smells were trapped in the same camera click, and where you feel as if you’re reliving the experience.
I agree with David Perlmutter that you have a lot to share. And I hope you continue to post essays like this on your Substack, because I’m a few seconds away from hitting the subscribe button, although I know little about football or cricket. 🙂
Hello Daniel and what an incredibly kind message and thoughts. If the boot were on the other foot so to speak, I could have written and echoed so much of your message. I'm not the man who moved away from his hometown in 1999, my one and only child in 2003, a heart breaking redundancy a year later, the end of what I hoped and believed to be my lifetime love in 2012 and I could go on throughout the past decade, much of which is contained in my writing (not of the cricket or football variety!).
"Social Media Influencers". "Life Coaches". Vacuous nonsense and I have disdain for them all. My writing, whether on sports or existential life, comes from the heart but receives very little merit or attention yet these people seem to bathe in internet success.
Thanks for the insight into your reading(s). I'm currently torn and thinking of handing my books over to others to read but, regardless of the contents of the books (football, cricket and huge volumes of film reviews) are my stories, my viewpoints, and I can't see (or hear) how someone else would do them justice. But........as I've already stated in the article, I've given my reading my all recently and they simply aren't worthy of suitability for Audible etc. Too many plosives and unprofessional sounds and despite trying my utmost with a software suite I am brand new to (and every Youtube help video!), I'm still struggling. I don't want to give up on it and I'm still considering what to do next.
Thank you so much for reading my article (not my usual output although I do delve into the matters of the heart and existentialism a lot, just not to this raw degree) and I truly appreciate your heart felt reply.
Take it easy
Stephen