(Word) Nerd- "Suspend Your Disbelief"

Part of what makes poetry so fascinating for me is word choice. It's not even simply choosing the right word for what I want to express but the attempt to use words that will convey meaning and even mood to the reader or listener.

Context is a big key. For instance, the context of the word "WHO" makes the difference between whether I'm talking about a certain time traveling alien in a blue box, a race of dust speck residents, or the spread of a new international plague.

Then there's phonology, the sound of the word. "Cellar door" makes a lot of linguists drool (especially those named Frank) based on some sort of inherent musicality.

I believe there's something to the presentation of the word however, which can cancel out, intensify, or reshape the entire perception of a word.

My reason for feeling this is one particular phrase: "Suspend your disbelief".

You see, the first time I saw Star Wars was when it was re-released (with special edition features) for movie theatres in 1997. I might be mistaken but I'm pretty sure that night was the first time I was introduced to the term "suspension of disbelief" in a conversation with my dad about science fiction/fantasy stories. I was a strange kid.

Maybe my mind was in an epic adventure kind of headspace because of having just watched the Death Star explode [context]. Maybe it's the way that "suspend" sounds kind of like super bend to a six year old, especially when combined with the mystical word "disbelief" [phonology]. I had after all just been introduced to the Force.

These two linguistical allies came together like Han and Chewie to scoundrel me into thinking "suspend your disbelief" meant something along the lines of morphing my perception into something magical.

The great thing was that this isn't completely wrong. Sure, suspend in the way my dad was probably reffering to in using this phrase is more like being suspended from play in a game or getting a suspension in school. I should set aside skepticism and enjoy the ride (and I'm glad I did because 1-Star Wars and 2- I was six).

However, what fascinates me is that I got by for so long knowing full well what all the words in the phrase meant and, using such simple logic, the true meaning of that phrase, but the mystic idea of my belief hanging out in some higher plane of existence being reformed into some wondrous new consciousness stuck with me pretty much till fifteen minutes ago. (Okay, it's still kinda there). Maybe it's my love of story, especially story of the fantastic variety, but as much as I'm all for using logic and deduction to dig the answers from the depths of the universe, it is always the exploration of the mysterious which most inspires me.

Rod Serling wasn't just saying be less critical. "Just have fun and watch the bookworm drop his glasses, kids." He was inviting us enter into a realm where words are more than their assigned meaning, when the sound and placement of a combination of letters surprises us by not only hitting us where we think but also where we feel.

And that's why poetry is like...

Petrichor.

p.s.-check out my sister's awesome Mongolian Adventures!

This Town

It's been a long time, too long probably, since my last update.

Not much has changed and everything is always changing, right?

For those of who have been following the adventures of me, you would know that I previously worked at a thrift store, pounding away like a zombie starved of the right kind of brains.

That's right, I said previously (also, zombie...because I follow trends I guess).

My current position is sitting on a bed at 5 in the morning, but my current job position is working the front desk at a hotel! Sometimes I drive the airport shuttle, sometimes I check people in, sometimes I answer the phone and say sorry to people's silly complaints, but mostly I have plenty of time to write my novel.

Yes folks, I'm writing a novel (no, not that one, a different one). I'm participating in NaNoWriMo, which is crazy times, mostly. Essentially, I'm attempting to write a fifty-thousand word first draft of a novel during the month of November. Why? Because I'm insane.

Also, in doing so, I hope to develop the habit of not only writing every day, but also using the first draft as a freer, less edit-heavy space where creativity can flow without worry for perfection. I think these are skills which perchance may lead to an exponential increase in productivity on the writing front.

Tonight, however, I've already done a great deal of writing and am only still awake because in about two hours a strange person is coming into my room to stare at the water damage in the ceiling. Believe it or not, I actually cleaned.

Before all this sitting and writing, I was at a Friendsgiving party with some fantastic new friendstrangertypes I'm slowly growing to love. It was fantastically brilliant in the way that only a packed house full of people I don't know well but who still jump at the chance to bless and encourage me with our similar loves and hopes and questions can. I am blessed to be in an area of the world where crazy, talented, creative, wonderful people can gather and eat tons of food and just be there in the midst of one another. Yes, it's awkward for the introvert sometimes, but that's why we have a tiny box for him that I keep in the back left of my brain. I let him out for exercising most nights around this time, so it's okay.

As far as music goes, I am not sure of the exact date yet, but the first new single in (for)ever should be "dropping" as they say in the next couple weeks. SO LOOOOOK OUT!

More on that bit to come.

Love you all, and I hope you're getting more sleep than me.

p.s.- check out my new acoustic video right here: CONSTITUTION HALL