I knew this already as I wrote the story : my intended reader(s) are not die-hard activists with an abiding commitment to militant action. They are well-read, well-intentioned people with limited hands-on experience and, possibly, limited interest in ideological and political activism. I see them as longing for a finer world, but quickly dismayed or frightened by counter-forces with an agenda in brutal opposition to theirs.The « trick » with a synopsis : to make the fifteen hundred word version a miniature of the seventy-thousand word version in terms of tone, intent – and intended readership.
Yesterday afternoon, while I worked with S on the text of memories of his Guinean childhood he’d managed to write on the miniature screen of his phone, F repaired the broken fencing outside my door. The neighborhood kids no longer risk a headlong plunge down to the parking lot when they perform screeching halts with their bicycles. F adamantly refused payment. His wife’s request for renewal of her residency permit: still under scrutiny. No answer forthcoming for another month or so. All benefits cut off since June.
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For now: Sunday market down the hill. Brief meeting with friends, then home again for a word by word construction of the topic mentioned in this blog post’s title.
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I open Henri Michaux’ Poteaux d’angle at random and find: “Les oiseaux, eux, la plupart, utilisent leur pouvoir de sonorisation avec sobriété, bref appel ou courte délivrance, pour la fuite à quoi ils restent tout prêts. Signaux sans insister, décochés dans la savane ou la clairière. Signaux pour une petite place dans le ciel. Les rapaces généralement ne s’attardent pas à la musique.” (Birds on the other hand, for the most part, use their sound-producing power with sobriety, brief calls or short deliveries, meant for a flight always at the ready. Signals with no insistance, shot off in the savana or the clearing in the woods. Signals for a tiny space in the sky. Raptors for the most part don’t waste their time on music.)
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