Sometimes I’d say I was writing something for the record. Some historian would find it one day and be able to quote it as indicative of the times, the atmosphere, the culture. I still believe in that function.
I’m answering this question in May, and I just read this morning about how NASA was able to fix the computer code in Voyager from 15 billion miles away. To me, that is peak human activity.
It’s like fishing. If you don’t drop your line in the water you’ll never catch anything.
Hearing the George Harrison song still brings me back to that moment in time.
I find James Tate’s poetry utterly inspiring. It inspires me to not be so uptight, to cut loose sometimes. If I find myself getting all serious and bogged down, I just crack open one of his books (any will do) and start reading.