I’d felt that, against a cab window, so many times before you, in that thick heavy silence where you’re wondering what’s next. Your movements are no longer casual; everything feels heavier. I’m tired of my re-run nights of mistakes, of my safe one-bedroom, single serving of a life. It’s why I reached my hand out toward you. The reaching is the hard part; it’s like getting to the gym. Once I’m there, it’s all gravy fries. And when we entered my apartment, you told me you were a smart man, the kind who wouldn’t let someone like me go.
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Although not in the form often associated with poetry, your post has a poetic ring, a blend of poetry and prose. Maybe in the style of another Greek poet, Odysseas Elytes? Thanks.
"single-serving life"
Fight Club ripoff. Well done.
wonderfully written. "… even in the middle of the night." loved that.
robyn
what in this world isn't a ripoff? Not much…
I know I have twice posted some unflattering comments about your blog, but you clearly deserve some credit if I come here at all, right?
I think your success is largely due to the #1 rule in writing for an audience: don't be boring. Some of us might complain or call you superficial or silly, but you do tell your stories in an interesting way. I have to disagree with most people who praise the writing itself (you have some minor trouble with grammar, punctuation, and structure at times) but the way you write obviously keeps people coming back.
But a post like this makes me raise my eyebrows because now it looks like you're trying too hard. Maybe all those comments about your shallow, self-absorbed musings have gotten to you, and you're out to prove something. I doubt you'll succeed with lines like "like a kernel at the bottom of the bag" and "like dripping atoms along a micro slide." You seem to be at your best when you are simply yourself and not struggling to be literary or political.
Just an unsolicited, honest comment from an occasional reader.
Your romantic tales of whimsy are awfully written.
Well I thought it was a great piece of writing, and your style keeps me coming back for more.
I love it.
Hey,I actually stumbled to here because of Boing Boing, which involved the coffee guy and that led me to … someone else's page … errr … hopefully HTML is enabled here, and hopefully, I inputed everything correctly.
In any event, you have an interesting page. Would be interesting if you gave a little blurb of background in the "Real me" section – like where you're from and what you do and such, but still cool.
… I'm tempted to break into Rooster-like prose, as I always am at the mention of Sedaris, but I shall refrain.
Jenny, regarding the grammar/punctuation issue here (and Stephanie knows I'm the biggest Strunk & White prick), after one obtains a book deal with a publisher, one works closely with an editor–and magically, all that S&W shite gets ironed out. Hem and Fitzgerald would've been much less than legends without the great, or should I say The Great Maxwell Perkins.
Oh shut the hell up and go somewhere else. You suck
AG, it's hard to tell from your brief comment whether Stephanie ripped something off from "Fight Club." Nevertheless, I want to thank you for introducing me to the movie. From reading parts of the script and reviews, it appears that the movie can play as important a role in increasing the self-knowledge of audience members as this blog can play in the lives of readers who care to learn about themselves. It's often very hard to criticize Stephanie because at times one cannot help wanting to thank her for showing us vividly how we (mistakenly or otherwise) believe we should not behave. The foregoing is not an insult disguised as praise; it's unadulterated praise.
Just because a writer appears shallow or self-absorbed in a recent posting, it need not be the case that the writer is presently or even recently was self-absorbed or shallow. It's the foregoing observation that makes it hard for anyone to claim to know a writer even superficially without having had the benefit of personal meaningful interaction.
"Only good comments" what did you say?
Nice post Stephanie. Your writing always brings your memories to visual image in my mind. Everything else aside, that to me is the sign of a good writer. When I can follow you in my head with my own mental images.
Only Good Comments: film is good, but go read Palahniuk's book, instead. David Fincher (director of Fight Club) is much too froo-froo stylized (he also did Seven, as well as Panic Room and The Game, but in the end, he is really just a video director–having done Madonna's Immaculate Collection). Palahniuk gets to the core of the social commentary he intends, while Fincher's film vision kind of loses it and just sort of concentrates on making the film "cool."
But who the feck am I?
3T, the comment was a lengthy response to Stephanie's critics:
"The most original modern authors are not so because they advance what is new, but simply because they know how to put what they have to say as if it had never been said before."
–Goethe
"The best critics are not so because they know how to put what they have to say as if it had never been said before, but because they offer novel thoughts with lasting value (even if ultimately wrong)."
–~Goethe
Stephanie recently wrote: "I focus on flaws because I'm scared. I'm scared of the one thing I really want. I'm the villain in my own life, preventing myself from getting what I really want. Sabotage. I'm a moment away from being the woman who goes for unavailable men, then cries into her pillow in pain when it doesn't work out.
But a lot can change in a moment. I’m counting them."
I cannot help wondering why so many critics have not independently realized what she has just explicitly shared and saved themselves the trouble of writing (and us the trouble of reading) comments that are unnecessarily harsh. If the critics must comment, they can just say "thank you." It's wonderful that Stephanie is not matching in her replies the harsh tone of her critics.
Thanks Robotnik for the insight into the relative merits of the movie and book.
Thank you for the clarification, "only good comments" :-)