10 August 2015

systemically

Facebook: Charles Singleton
Death is given out like candy
Here's some for you and some for you
Don't resist or you'll get some too
It's a crazy game
The system's on the hunt
Never touched drugs
We'll Photoshop in a blunt
You're no angel
You're some kind of freak
You have unseen powers
Is what some think
Bow before these commands
Meet unreasonable demands
Don't show grief
We'll make you look like a thief
While the system takes more life
And reinforces lack of worth
Yeah we'll protect your birth
But then there's a dearth
Of help along the way
We've trapped you here
We want you to fear
Don't question the system
Don't rebel
Or else
I feared for my life
Is the story I'll tell
You're nothing
You're no one
It's your own fault you lack


Welcome to the world of how it feels to be black.

06 August 2015

Me, a writer? Really?

I ask myself this question too often. I've never written a traditional story, I don't write a certain number of words a day. Commas are my sworn, mortal enemy, I love run-on sentences, and there are other rules of grammar that I'm afraid I break, regularly.

Even in my professional business, I remix many of the same words and phrases because I am beholden to the structure of SEO. And my ability to research is, at times, crippled by my ability to get distracted while following a trail right down the rabbit hole.

So I wonder, am I truly an artist, a creative who has that almost-magical ability to transport people into a calm and comforting, or disorienting and adventurous world of words of my own making?

Today, I spent an hour or so writing down words from the thesaurus so each would readily pop into my mind. I don't like breaking writing rhythm to look up a similar word, and I've found when I write it down it helps me to remember.

Which then meant, of course, I spent time reading the dictionary to make sure I was using the words properly. Oh and to find new ones, which led me back to the thesaurus. It's a bit of a cyclical pattern.

Oh, and did I mention I'm working on a plan to launch an official website for my business, the Write Solution? I've been strategizing with my mentors about blog topics to get started. And there's that uncanny curiosity of mine that keeps my public relations-bent mind going back to journalism. I often wonder if this or that is being worked into a story. But I digress.

So in answer to my own question:

Who, other than a writer, does that? 
Seriously.

In the matter of whether or not I am a writer, I believe these events, and many other print-related infractions, make me guilty as charged. I guess I'll go ahead and serve this life sentence with joy.