You learned you writing lesson well, Steve, and both you and Jeannine should be proud. The letter form is a great container for the written word. I’m sure you realize that from Paul’s letters in the Bible and there have been epistolary novels ever since novels began to be written. Yours is also a remembrance of your friend and guide as well as meditation and contemplation on time, distance, landscape among other things. Well done, Steve!
Oh my gosh, Paul. I admire your work so much that your high praise is being taken to heart. Jeannine is always challenging me and I really enjoyed using the epistolary container as the vehicle this time. You've put me in a high place when you mention Paul of the Bible. He's definitely a model of the beauty of this style of writing. Thank you again, Paul for your stirring affirmation.
I think you did well. I only mention Paul because his letters form almost half the Bible and are a model of what can be done. I think he’s a mite to hortatory for my taste. I prefer the Gospels: with Jesus you get a hut; with Paul you get the whole cathedral.
I agree. Jesus wasn't trying to start a religion, more a way of relating, but Paul, being an academic before his writing, definitely was trying to build orthodoxy.
You just keep getting better and better. These are the same questions I ask of my Nick. I find that talking directly to a person is a really great way to develop voice. You are doing it so well here:
"But you, Francis, you are on the other side of conjecture. You know how this story ends, you see the other side of the mountain, you live in the undiscovered, sitting squarely in the certainty of knowing. Thousands upon thousands of words have been written trying to manifest this truth we call death, all of them unverifiable.
But what is it really like to be on the side of no time, in that place of eternity? Can you enter and exit time, that guardrail for our existence? Or are you locked forever with no beginning, no end, just being?"
Thank you so much, Kara. This was a first time writing this way and I really enjoyed doing it. Definitely will try my hand at it again in the future. And I love the way you interact with Nick so seeing a parallel here is really affirming for me.
This was beautiful, Friend. I love that the letter writing exercise from Jeannine led you here. What a loving and gorgeous remembrance of your friend and teacher and what wisdom you ponder in this piece. I loved the repetition of time and past, present and future, of memory, of space, of consciousness, the questions of what is beyond, and also what is here. The rhythm of your language and pacing paralleled the questions, like undulations of thought or experience, like life. Thank you so much for writing and sharing this. 🙏
Thank you for being so observant, Jocelyn! Francis was incredibly intelligent and well-versed in philosophy, psychology, as well as, religion so this piece was more "heady" than usual. Glad this type of discourse came through. Thanks again friend for being here.
“It’s one of those glass translucent stones from the base of the Mary and Jesus statue. They watched me take it but I doubt they minded.”
There is so much here to love in your writing and your reflections - I chose this little gem because of the power of surprise, a break in the pattern by what I found ironically humorous, in the middle of a lilting cadence of lyrical and somber reflection, a switch from heaviness to lightness. The interruption, the break in rhythm, coming up to the surface to look around, helped me easily re-engage or dive back in….
Wow, Andrea, thank you for seeing this. It's my style in conversation--to mix the high road with the low road and the humor was my way of doing this. Thanks again for helping me.
You learned you writing lesson well, Steve, and both you and Jeannine should be proud. The letter form is a great container for the written word. I’m sure you realize that from Paul’s letters in the Bible and there have been epistolary novels ever since novels began to be written. Yours is also a remembrance of your friend and guide as well as meditation and contemplation on time, distance, landscape among other things. Well done, Steve!
Oh my gosh, Paul. I admire your work so much that your high praise is being taken to heart. Jeannine is always challenging me and I really enjoyed using the epistolary container as the vehicle this time. You've put me in a high place when you mention Paul of the Bible. He's definitely a model of the beauty of this style of writing. Thank you again, Paul for your stirring affirmation.
I think you did well. I only mention Paul because his letters form almost half the Bible and are a model of what can be done. I think he’s a mite to hortatory for my taste. I prefer the Gospels: with Jesus you get a hut; with Paul you get the whole cathedral.
I agree. Jesus wasn't trying to start a religion, more a way of relating, but Paul, being an academic before his writing, definitely was trying to build orthodoxy.
You just keep getting better and better. These are the same questions I ask of my Nick. I find that talking directly to a person is a really great way to develop voice. You are doing it so well here:
"But you, Francis, you are on the other side of conjecture. You know how this story ends, you see the other side of the mountain, you live in the undiscovered, sitting squarely in the certainty of knowing. Thousands upon thousands of words have been written trying to manifest this truth we call death, all of them unverifiable.
But what is it really like to be on the side of no time, in that place of eternity? Can you enter and exit time, that guardrail for our existence? Or are you locked forever with no beginning, no end, just being?"
Thank you so much, Kara. This was a first time writing this way and I really enjoyed doing it. Definitely will try my hand at it again in the future. And I love the way you interact with Nick so seeing a parallel here is really affirming for me.
What a beautiful tribute written in letter form. Thank you!
Thank you so much for the affirmation, Paulette!
This was beautiful, Friend. I love that the letter writing exercise from Jeannine led you here. What a loving and gorgeous remembrance of your friend and teacher and what wisdom you ponder in this piece. I loved the repetition of time and past, present and future, of memory, of space, of consciousness, the questions of what is beyond, and also what is here. The rhythm of your language and pacing paralleled the questions, like undulations of thought or experience, like life. Thank you so much for writing and sharing this. 🙏
Thank you for being so observant, Jocelyn! Francis was incredibly intelligent and well-versed in philosophy, psychology, as well as, religion so this piece was more "heady" than usual. Glad this type of discourse came through. Thanks again friend for being here.
“It’s one of those glass translucent stones from the base of the Mary and Jesus statue. They watched me take it but I doubt they minded.”
There is so much here to love in your writing and your reflections - I chose this little gem because of the power of surprise, a break in the pattern by what I found ironically humorous, in the middle of a lilting cadence of lyrical and somber reflection, a switch from heaviness to lightness. The interruption, the break in rhythm, coming up to the surface to look around, helped me easily re-engage or dive back in….
Wow, Andrea, thank you for seeing this. It's my style in conversation--to mix the high road with the low road and the humor was my way of doing this. Thanks again for helping me.
Speaking directly to the soul!
Thank you for seeing this, Stan. It is in my soul that I feel this.