May 2025
The Gospel of Eliphaz gets fat on American dreams in American hearts dying atop heaps of rotten spoil won by locking virtues up like safe-kept art. As if the perfect reward of true faith is a groomed lawn behind a picket fence, a clean house whiter than the palest wraith, and new cars forbidden to endure dents. Yet more subtle still, this 'Gospel' evolves into any form our dreamlust chooses, creating problems for problems to solve, snaring souls by multiplying muses. First last, last first. On earth as in heaven. Low, not high, abides the bread unleavened.
— Sonnet 3, The Gospel of Eliphaz
“Lord, what a strange world in which a man cannot remain unique even by taking the trouble to go mad!”
— G.K. Chesterton, The Napolean of Notting Hill
I think that sonnet might hold some clues as to my mood for most of April. Yet I am optimistic today. The more I think and strive, the more I feel that joy is a discipline. And truly, the World is not going to make it easy except for the fortunate few blown upwards by the top of the wheel, to rejoice. Here's to trying, and here's to writing.
Writing
My toddler has been dropping a nap, which means my predictable writing time is not so predictable any more. I am planning to try and get up early at least a few days a week this month, and hopefully make it a habit going into the summer (which will also give me motivation to go to bed earlier). I am still plodding away on re-writing the climax and end of the book/series. Hopefully after this re-write it will be somewhat readable for other people. I am also working on an essay about re-reading Tolkien that I am hoping will show up later this month.
Music
I recorded a demo of my 'worship song,' and am working up the courage to maybe perform it in church. I am also hoping to get some more recordings done for Lit Songs, so that I can have a proper demo album of it. Am also really hoping to get together with friends to jam and play. It is so hard to find time, and it feels like a miracle whenever I can get together with people. I suppose that is normal for adult life with kids, but I wish it wasn't.
Reading
According to Bookwyrm I read Charlotte's Web and The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White, and The Napolean of Notting Hill by G.K. Chesterton. I enjoyed all of them. In fact, I enjoyed Charlotte's Web so much that I wrote a thing about it, that you can read on this blog! I am still reading like a spider with too many flies in its web, but I don't think that can be helped.
Listening
I fell off the cliff of Twenty One Pilots again. It started with Blurryface, than I went to Clancy, then Scaled and Icy. I have been admiring the mixes a lot. I think Scaled and Icy is perhaps one of the best mixed albums I've ever heard. By mix I mean the texture and overall quality of the sound. There are a great many instruments and elements on that disc, and you can hear every single one perfectly. Nothing is muddied over or too loud. Just one cohesive sound. As an amateur “mixer,” I can't overstate how hard it is to get different instruments and voices to agree. Anyway, the songs themselves do what Twenty One Pilots has always done for me in providing catharsis and reinterpretation for the daily pain of existence. Stay alive, friend.
Thank you for reading! I greatly regret that I will most likely never be able to meet you in person and shake your hand, but perhaps we can virtually shake hands via my newsletter, social media, or a cup of coffee sent over the wire. They are poor substitutes, but they can be a real grace in this intractable world.
Send me a kind word or a cup of coffee: