I went to see a comedy show.
I came away with feelings I wasn't sure I understood.
Lying in bed, later, I started writing randon thoughts on my tablet.
The end result is below, pretty much as I wrote it, leaning over my pillow.
Now...
...if I wanted to, I could read it out loud to see how it flowed
I could revisit my choice of words for greater impact.
I could look at line length.
I could look at the internal rythm of those lines
I could count sylables.
I could try to make it rhyme.
I could do all (or some, or none) of that stuff.
But I couldn't do any of it without first getting the words down on the page.
Writers should have notebooks (or computer files) full of first drafts. Many will never see the light of day. A few will transform in ways you never imagined at the beginning.
The important thing is to get those words down!
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Wee man on a big stage
Getting paid, or sometimes paying
To call yourself comedian
You wear your hair, wear your clothes,
In a way your boring-day-job
Workmates would never recognize
And you talk down to people who look
Like everyone who ever scared you
You swear like you were never allowed to
Anywhere else, excessively, almost exuberantly
Except there is no joy in it
And this isn’t comedy
This is a rock-‘n’-roll way to get therapy
Where you can let it all out and not have to
Buy into getting better
I know your mother, wee man on a big stage
Your deepest source of comfort and self-esteem
And I’d hug you for that alone
The stage isn’t your support, merely your enabler
Stop trying to make them laugh until they cry
Come on down among the other walking wounded
Where there are hands to hold as you walk through the pain
And cry... until you can laugh
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