Hunting and Pecking on Writing

Hooked up to the IV and hunting and pecking with my left hand. I’m tempted to ask the busy doctor to edit the latest draft of my poem, but I’m not sure he would appreciate either the poem or the use of his time. In the meantime I’ll ponder the fact that I come to the IV equipped with all modern forms of communication: cell phone, kindle and laptop. In the past I resisted the acquisition of each, but now I may as well hook myself to the cell phone as to the IV.

Though it’s quite a contrast to writing poetry, I greedily turn to text-messaging for its ease of communication. It would be hard to get my whole family on Skype or the phone, but last night all my sibs and both parents went on a massive text messaging jag, inspired by the news of Tropical Storm Karen in the Gulf.  My sister made the connection between her own tempests and the storm and since she started it, we devolved into a free-for-all. And though I did just use the phrase “she started it,” I try to kick in some witty texts.

Yet…we are losing creative writing forms in our need to shorten messages into bite-sized morsels. We have ease and brevity, but do we have wit or beauty? Here’s a marvelous quote from author/poet Anna Journey, who responded graciously to questions from my poetry class:

“I think texts, tweets, and e-mails are the enemies of style. They’re often fired off immediately, without nuance or deliberation; they’re packed with ready-made bits of language and marred with cliché. They’re packages of disposable language—unlike poems. “

So whether or not you agree with Ms. Journey, consider style, individuality and caution in your next written message. It’s not as easy, but it could be more rewarding.