I was searching through my drawers last night looking for a particular piece of writing that I did a few years ago. I didn't find it but I did find a batch of poems and stories that I wrote more than twenty years ago. The poems were almost uniformly dreadful. What surprised me is that they were dated and if they hadn't been I'd have assumed from the whiny, angst-ridden tones that they were much, much earlier. It seems that my teen-angst years lasted well into my twenties. Don't worry, they are far too embarrassingly bad to be reproduced here.
I sorted them into two piles - keep and throw out. The throw out pile grew and the keep pile stayed resolutely empty. It seems that between the ages of eleven and twenty-five-ish every poem I wrote was either sci-fi influenced gibberish or, more likely, about me.
The stories were another matter. Sadly none of them were finished but there was actually some good writing in them. I have kept them and may well revisit them. I might take them away with me next week when I go down for my summer contract. The times when I'm not teaching are often pretty boring so I should get some opportunity to look at them and maybe finish them.
Pity about the poems though.
I sorted them into two piles - keep and throw out. The throw out pile grew and the keep pile stayed resolutely empty. It seems that between the ages of eleven and twenty-five-ish every poem I wrote was either sci-fi influenced gibberish or, more likely, about me.
The stories were another matter. Sadly none of them were finished but there was actually some good writing in them. I have kept them and may well revisit them. I might take them away with me next week when I go down for my summer contract. The times when I'm not teaching are often pretty boring so I should get some opportunity to look at them and maybe finish them.
Pity about the poems though.
2 comments:
Won't throw them away.
Leaving Germany five years ago, made the mistake to leave most of my life behind and did throw much of it away - something I regret now much.
It's always worth to be kept, I guess, as it represents oneself.
Hi robert
I tried a couple of times to post comments to your blog but can't.
I see the comment box but the drop down that says "comment as" doesn't contain any options so that my comments never appear. I don't know what the problem is.
Just thought you might like to know that I am reading it even though I'm not able to comment on it.
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