Yesterday morning I woke with the strong urge to write something, which I titled “I Have a Dream.” That’s the way it often is with me – my muse wakes me early, sometimes well before sunrise, and commands, “Write this down…” So I did as I normally obediently do, I wrote.
This “I Have a Dream” piece turned out to be pure fiction, 300-plus words of vivid imagination, about two buddies, Bibi and Donny, locked in a cage and given only one slice each of Wonder Bread each day, until they almost melt away. It felt so good to write it, to imagine this scene in detail – the sights and sounds and smells of it all. “There!” part of me hooted. “See?! See how it feels?!”
But another part of me doubted I could use this piece in any practical way. As a WOW blogpost? Ummm…I didn’t think so. So I ran it past my dear friend Maureen, and she agreed. “Nope.” Too sharp, too biting, too harsh. Doesn’t fit with the rest of my oeuvre, she said. She was right. I shelved “I Have a Dream.”
Throughout my writing career I’ve tried my best to follow Emily Dickinson’s strong advice to “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant. Success in circuit lies,” Emily wrote. That poem, which is chiseled in stone on one wall of my brain, goes on:
Too bright for our infirm delight
the truth’s superb surprise.
As lightning to the children eased
with explanation kind,
the truth must dazzle gradually
or every man be blind.
Translated into the vernacular: Don’t bash your readers over the head, because that will only backfire. Truth must be served up “gradually,” in bite-size pieces, if it’s to be digested at all. Okay, so this has been my approach. At least up until now.
But, given the givens in the news these days, it’s so tempting to scream at the top of one’s lungs: STOP! STOP THIS CRUELTY! STOP IT NOW!!! This “I Have a Dream” piece turned out to be as subtle and nuanced as a scream. And that, alas, won’t do. Nobody wants to be screamed at, even in print. It’s too easy to press delete.
Somehow, though, in the back of my mind, I had a dream that my ugly, smelly, fictional scene might shake some influential readers into the realization that this just cannot go on another minute. That these two powerful men must be somehow made to see and feel the effects of what they’re doing and then DO what only they can do to stop the unspeakable inhumanity – immediately.
I dreamed my words would make a difference, that above all the cacophony of the news media and the horrors of the on-the-ground videos of starving children, my 300-plus words would break through.
Ha! Dream, dream, dream….
That particular dream is now in the past tense: I HAD a dream. What is one voice? A droplet in the ocean. What’s needed, I think, is a choir – a huge, worldwide tabernacle choir – of voices raised in loud but harmonious protest. It’s beginning to happen, which is heartening. Dreaming is fine; action is better. I think even Emily Dickinson might agree.
find me on facebook
Bonnie, I LOVE this and am so glad you quoted Emily Dickinson’s “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant,” because that does seem to be so important in writing, particularly when you want to be persuasive. So BRAVO, you’ve done exactly that here. Sending hugs all the way from Maine.
Thanks so much, Debbie. When I taught Creative Nonfiction Writing at UNM, I used to assign the book TELL IT SLANT to my students. I still recommend it to all aspiring writers.
Thanks for dreaming what soo many in the US are also!
It is so hard to know where one’s little drop would be helpful to pit an end to the horror.
Are you reading Heather Cox Richardson?? She is an amazing historian who gives some perspective on the news each day. Sha also has a wonderful book with the history in the US that got us to where we are.
She often gives us hope that this will pass..
You’re welcome, Shari. And thanks for recommending HCR to WOW readers. She is certainly a treasure.
Bonnie, I thought you were talking about our unspeakably cruel “punishment” of immigrants who are here (or at least were here) because they are desperate for a better life for themselves and their families. Too many men are imprisoned in dog kennels in countries they don’t even know. Or they’re in overcrowded prisons here on U.S. soil with too little food, sanitation, and space. They have committed no crime and seen no judge. Their only crime was a longing to be free and to have access to opportunity. To work for people who desperately need good workers.
But I think I realized at the very end that you were talking about Palestine.
Why have humans suddenly turned so ugly? Every single person who supports Donald Trump and every single person who supports Netanyahu is, as John Pavlovitz said the other day, “Not a good person.” Good people don’t do that to other human beings. And they don’t tolerate their leaders who do.
Yes, all of the above, Be — literally and metaphorically. Human beings have always shown a capacity for ugly behavior, I think, but maybe today the tolerance level for it is greater. It’s more out in the open now and in our faces.
Thank you for sharing this, Bonnie. I thank your muse for waking you and inspiring you, whether or not you choose to share it. I think we are all feeling that inner scream to “make it stop!!” And so many have no clue what to do with the rage. You have an outlet. It’s a wonderful thing. we can’t run from it, we can’t be frightened by it, or intimidated , that’s exactly what they want. We must unite and rally. Stay strong and informed. And share our thoughts as you always do with Grace and eloquence. Thank you.
Thank YOU, dearest Michael, for your input. Yes, we must unite and rally, stay strong and informed. Come to think of it, my little “I Have a Dream” piece could serve as a powerful one-act play! I can see it now… — BB xx