First day in class Lacy gave us a poem and told us to pick apart a stanza and elaborate on it. The author was from Ralph Fletcher, and it was called Breathing In Breathing Out: Keeping a Writers Notebook. I chose "Strings to short to be saved" yet too important to throw away: the writerly instinct is to hang on to them. When I first read this piece I first thought of something more than just string. I knew that the author wanted us to connect with something different and the first thing that popped in my head were people. There are certain people in our lives that we care deeply about and couldn't image ourselves living without them. Whether it be your parents, siblings, boyfriend/girlfriend, or your best friends it doesn't matter because they are what surrounds us, what make us happy and we do not want to lose that in our lives. They would be the shorter strings that we would keep, that are too important in our lives to throw away. But the other strings that are "too short to be saved" are the people around us that give off negative energy. If they are no good in your life; pitch them, meaning get rid of them and their negativity. In a writers perspective the negative thoughts are what holds them back from publishing a book or not going with a certain idea. Ultimately it is your decision if you think they are too short to be saved, or thrown away.
I love your idea that the the strings are compared to the people we love, or care about. Why would anyone throw those away? Growing up you realize who your friends are and who you should stay away from. I think college is a place where a lot of us go through this process. Were all kind of vulnerable and put our selves out there to make friends, and also don't want to hang around the wrong people. While were going through this we can always fall back on the people who have always been there for us. ( the strings we will never throw away)
ReplyDeleteoh wow thats really cool how you compared strings to people. Everyone has experiences with bad people. As people grow older they start realizing the people who actually care about them which are the people to keep in your life.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about the whole string connection but that totally makes sense. Do you ever wonder if people disconnect and cause their strings to break and wonder if when they look back their lives are more of a web and a scattered mess or a beautiful tapestry of strings ? Just a thought
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about how we should get rid of the negative people in our lives. Often times negative people can hold us back, bring us down, and ruin our lives as well as theirs. However sometimes we should try and let our positive energy over power their negative energy, but if they aren't willing to change and become more positive it could be hopeless.
ReplyDeleteoh this is a great kind of metaphor... it makes me think to that even those relationships which we are putting aside are ones we can "keep" through our writing and reflections.... hmmmm...
ReplyDeleteI really love what you've written here! The concept that everyone is connected to us by a "string" is very interesting. I love what you said about some strings in a relationship are "too short to be saved" and that those relationships which give off negative energy should be cut from your life.
ReplyDelete