Absent

[camus]

We agreed to attend the writing course together; of course I knew you wouldn’t appear. ‘I’ll make my own way there’ was a sentence bound in fatality, a lonely sentence. I acquiesced; possessed as I was in the belief that we two may change the world with pith and pen, me almost present - you as Mr Benn in constant flux, but vibrant from afar. Your bowler hat too big for your head, your absence - a black star. What you missed I can barely express, which I’m sure you’ll agree, must be irony? You’ll know better than I. All those monumental words, meaning massive things, so hard to keep track of, so hard to remember. But anyhow:

Mr Beckett explained how to be still and listen
to your own thoughts. How to find meaning in the
mundane.

How washing the pots can be a form
of prayer, and how falling asleep is always an awakening,
believing you belong, just where you are.

Of course he rattled on about enjamb
ment, and how rhyme is a crime when
delivered out of time. All that stuff, but man what fellow,

what a bellowing breach of bewilderment
he blew, what internal thoughts
he massaged out and laid bare, right there, beneath the

LED lighting in a room full of pale faces 16x16m square.
You’d have hated it.
I wish you were there.

[Macavity]

Playing the Mr Benn card was an ace. The sardonic works well in the context and in the end. Muchly enjoyed. I will be back if I can think of an irrelevant/relevant suggestion...I did a short writing course with the OU (it was bollocks...and I nearly got kicked off for telling the tutor so...such 'education' is too expensive now).

[camus]

Thanks Mac.

and I nearly got kicked off for telling the tutor so.

Well played sir! I think many of these so called 'courses' are box ticking exercises to get bums on seats and money in the coffers, and ultimately pointless. A shame for those attending who really want to progress with their writing. I've attended a couple and finished neither. As you say, any courses of worth are becoming unattainable.

Cheers
Kris

[ton321]

Great honest piece.

From the impulse to the writing...draws me to the impulse.

Tony

[ray miller]

What you missed I can barely express, which I’m sure you’ll agree, must be irony?

You’d have hated it.
I wish you were there.

Loved it all, but those bits best. Yes, I think I've met Mr Beckett several times myself.