Such Beautiful Writing

“I got out. The light and coolness that drenched me were like those of summer morning, early morning a minute or two before the sunrise, only that there was a certain difference.  had the sense of being in a larger space, perhaps even a larger sort of space, than I had ever known before: as if the sky were further off and the extent of the green plain wider than they could be on this little ball of earth. I had ot’out’ in some sense which made the Solar System itself seem an indoor affair. It gave me a feeling of freedom, but also of exposure, possibly of danger, which continued to accompany me through all that followed. It is the impossibility of communicating that feeling, or even of inducing you to remember it as I proceed, which makes me dispair of conveying the real quality of what I saw and heard.”

C.S. Lewis, from The Great Divorce, when he is first getting off the bus arriving at the edge of Heaven.

Also, give this song a listen. It’s been on my mind a lot lately and it’s excellent.

When they ask you what you’re thinking…say love. Say for me love.

Real Like Life

I just finished reading Don Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz. It was excellent. I got more out of it than any book I’ve read in a long time. I also spent half the book nodding my head and saying, “I feel exactly the same way, no one ever feels that way!”

Anyway, it was very uplifting and I learned a lot from it.

I’m excited! Trey is coming to Austin on Friday and staying the night. He, JM, Riley and I are gonna party it up. And by party it up I mean hang out and probably never sleep.

In other news, I want some plants to put on the apartment patio. Who wants to bring me some potted plants?

I ramble so much.

Creative Writing Assignment

I wrote this the other day for my creative writing class and thought I’d share it. It’s kind of rough, but I think it turned out well. It’s a random scene and then a subsequent resulting poem:

And then I jumped.
With both my feet pressed down on the soft, springy ground below me, I pushed off with all my might and flew up in the air–quite literally–for this time I did not come back down.
I watched the clouds grow in size as I approached them. The cool air ran through my hair, spreading it around my face; it was a field of grass in the breeze. Closer the clouds came to me. I hit one of them, dove into the moist shape and half-expected to find fish floating lazily around inside, though I could not see far enough to tell.
Then I broke through the other side.
The scene was drastically different from top-down than from the bottom up. As I shot away from the cloud I had just exited, I took in my new surroundings. Huge cumulus behemoths rose about me like snow-peaked mountains. I was becoming the first to scale an Everest of condensation.
I expected it to be cool up in my range of vapor mountains, but it was strangely warm. I suddenly became aware of my proximity to the never-blinking eye of the Sun. Though there was still a breeze, I realized that Icarus would not have made it much higher than I now was.
I looked down.
The clouds were now just flecks of sea foam upon the glass-like surface of a tide pool. Plains, farmland, oceans, and cities below the surface became as tiny animals and fish continuing their tiny lives with no notice of their co-inhabitants.
From this vantage point, nothing seemed to move. I wouldn’t even have known I was moving anymore except for the ever-present wind on my face.
I shot through several layers of atmosphere, then came to the edge of Earth’s reach.
As I made the jump from atmosphere to space, silvery, shimmering life surrounded me. I was struck with the realization that maybe space isn’t the empty thing between worlds, but that maybe planets are the empty things and space, with its lack of air, has more room for life.
I began to notice the planets and stars, as glass beads and drops of gold, silver, and glowing diamonds around me. I felt electricity in the nothingness, like the whole place was alive with beings I could not yet perceive.
My eyes became stronger as I shot towards the sun; an arrow shot expertly at the greatest target, and I arrived, alighting upon the surface, though it did not burn. I was then enveloped by the most delicious warmth and light that I had ever encountered and let myself fade away.

(I may have stolen a few general concepts from C.S. Lewis in this, by the way…)

Trampoline earth–
Shot through the sky
I, as a bird, flying
Seeing through a new eye

Everest clouds–
Capped with future snow
I, as a man, hiking
Looking back below

Tidepool sky–
Clouds atop like foam
I, as a child, examine
The inhabitants, unknown

Electric space–
Celestial jewelry all aglow
I, as an arrow, shot
To the Sun as from a silver bow

Target Sun–
Flowing as liquid gold
I, as an alien, land
On Apollo’s burden of old.