Even if you
tell yourself you
don’t want to become a writer,
the truth is
you will have to become a hardboiled romance writer
of a different kind.
(There is more than one kind
of everything).
And what you will have to write
is your own life
(if you want to save
your own soul).
Or think of writing your life
as your own endless film trip
(not strip)
you are making, tragicomic.
Where work is play
and the play is your work
and you are usually more
of an antihero.
And you get to take all the things
you have been handed
by Life.
And create the script, and fall
in love.
And so you nurture it, love it, write it down.
Hide it under your bed
(when you have one), fix it when it
needs fixing.
Know it’s good at heart, in its heart, and keep it
that way.
Let it go.
But don’t ever let the it of it go.
Send it and get it sent
straight back at you
by the greatest editor
ever known
demanding ever more
difficult
and life-enhancing
corrections.
Saragun Springs 
Yikes and also gulp. Not looking under my bed any time soon. Spot on about the editor though. I have to say that, for me, when it is sent off I am always sure it is absolute rubbish – it’s a bit sad when I have poured my heart into it but – that’s it and all about it, I guess.
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I’d also like to let everyone know that Diane’s latest novel has made the grade! I look forward to the publication date.
Leila
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Thank you so much
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Diane
I think that self-critical attitude you mention is one of the surest signs of the real writer. Sadly, having to feel not too great about your own work at several stages of the game seems to be an inherent part of the process if you want to make it any good. In other words, it hurts (sometimes). Congrats on your new book!
Dale
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Hi Dale
Truly a piece where the term (speeding toward cliche) “Work in Progress” applies. And a life is a lot like an artistic creation. I feel that those who are disapointed, frustrated and endlessly agonizing over choices made and to come are doing better work than persons pleased by their own genius. Here, compare Joyce to the Lame Ducktail.
Leila
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Hi Leila
Wallace Stevens said, “In poetry, you must love the word, the ideas and images and rhythms with all your capacity to love anything at all.”
I can’t think of a better way of saying how important poetry is to the serious poet (and, of course, for the writer of poetic things like truly great short stories as well).
And in loving that thing which you are working on, you must live with it, labor over it, struggle with it, wrestle with it, sleep on it, digest it, and sometimes put it away for ten years before you finish it, as was the case with this poem, “Crime Fiction.”
Sometimes it seems fair to say that half of creation is JOY and the other half PAIN. Just like life!
Dale
PS
Creating yourself as a self is seen as a crime by Society these days, and that is a part of (but only a part of) the title and overriding symbol of this pome (the preferred spelling for both Kerouac and Joyce)…
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Hi Dale
Your words take the mind on a trip. I can see a crumbling of paper, then straightening it out again. Maybe this will be the one?
A writer may not know what they are good at. Not so much different than living life. Maybe a hidden talent at swinging a golf driver lies in your hands and hips, or you might have an insane hand and eye coordination like John McEnroe. What will the writer find?
I think this poem has a lot of different interpretations. I always like the voice in your writing. Excellent work!
Christopher
PS: Doggins wants to get into the picture.
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CJA
You have a visionary way of interpreting my work and I can never say thank you enough times!
AND, I urge anyone reading this to turn to LITERALLY STORIES right now and peruse your latest short story masterpiece…I think Raymond Carver is starting to get really, really nervous around you as he senses himself getting his ass beat!
DWB
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