Graf #4
Inventory’s Inventory
I took a drive today and as I drove I thought about this inventory. Although I did an inventory of the top of my desk it didn’t interest me so I doubted seriously that I could convincingly entice the reader in by my own description of what it says of me. I needed something more, something a little beyond what an inventory might imply.
I thought about pulling out my medicine bag and reviewing its contents but it hasn’t been opened for years. There’s something not quite right about using it for that purpose. No, I needed something different. I needed something that would piece together an image for both the reader and myself.
I wondered after who I am now. Would an inventory of my dreams and aspirations work towards opening me to the assignment? What about a personal inventory of the me that I am or the me that was left behind? Both of those seem too personal to be of any real use. The ideas were discarded.
I toyed with pulling the car over (safely) and doing an inventory of wherever I happened to be but frankly it was chilly outside and I was toasty warm in my car listening to some really good tunes.
I then considered an inventory of my car but who wants to hear about the car seats and the crayons? Every mother need only look in her own car for an inventory of mine.
Okay, then I said to myself. How about doing an inventory of the people in my life or the places? The problem with both of those ideas is that next graf, the descriptive third person view of the person that made that list. You’d have to know the people or the places to understand the me behind them.
I wasn’t doing well. Everything I came up with seemed either too trite or too far-fetched. I figured that when I got home I’d sit down and somehow figure my way through the assignment. Obviously, it hasn’t helped except as a diversion.
So now what? Shall I simply post the inventory (*yawn) of my big oak desk? Frankly the desk was just organized and would tell you only what I wanted you to see. That doesn’t feel very honest.
Here’s what I’ve decided. This is the inventory of my tossed out ideas for an inventory. This is an inventory of me in the middle of the writing process (at least the student writing process). This is the inventory of a day of thought about an inventory.
This feels the most honest of them yet.
I took a drive today and as I drove I thought about this inventory. Although I did an inventory of the top of my desk it didn’t interest me so I doubted seriously that I could convincingly entice the reader in by my own description of what it says of me. I needed something more, something a little beyond what an inventory might imply.
I thought about pulling out my medicine bag and reviewing its contents but it hasn’t been opened for years. There’s something not quite right about using it for that purpose. No, I needed something different. I needed something that would piece together an image for both the reader and myself.
I wondered after who I am now. Would an inventory of my dreams and aspirations work towards opening me to the assignment? What about a personal inventory of the me that I am or the me that was left behind? Both of those seem too personal to be of any real use. The ideas were discarded.
I toyed with pulling the car over (safely) and doing an inventory of wherever I happened to be but frankly it was chilly outside and I was toasty warm in my car listening to some really good tunes.
I then considered an inventory of my car but who wants to hear about the car seats and the crayons? Every mother need only look in her own car for an inventory of mine.
Okay, then I said to myself. How about doing an inventory of the people in my life or the places? The problem with both of those ideas is that next graf, the descriptive third person view of the person that made that list. You’d have to know the people or the places to understand the me behind them.
I wasn’t doing well. Everything I came up with seemed either too trite or too far-fetched. I figured that when I got home I’d sit down and somehow figure my way through the assignment. Obviously, it hasn’t helped except as a diversion.
So now what? Shall I simply post the inventory (*yawn) of my big oak desk? Frankly the desk was just organized and would tell you only what I wanted you to see. That doesn’t feel very honest.
Here’s what I’ve decided. This is the inventory of my tossed out ideas for an inventory. This is an inventory of me in the middle of the writing process (at least the student writing process). This is the inventory of a day of thought about an inventory.
This feels the most honest of them yet.
posted by millay at 9:31 PM
1 Comments:
This is pretty slick, mining two very classic conventions: the first convention is the 'I'll write about not being able to write' convention--although a classic, in inexperienced hands, it almost always is despertate, 'cute,' and facetious; this avoids those traps and has a meticulous tone.
The second convention has some Greek name I don't know but is the rhetorical game where one proceeds by apparently saying the opposite of what one means but, in doing so, actually saying what one means. Imagine a politician saying, "I leave it to my opponent to roll in the mud of personal attack and slander. My campaign is one of ideas, not insults!"
Well, of course, that pol has just slandered and insulted his opponent while saying that's exactly what he wouldn't dream of doing! And you use the same good technique here.
Planning a run for office?
So, the oddball idea of an inventory of rejected inventories is a good one, very well executed here.
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