***********************************************************
O LET THERE BE AN EXPERT OUT THERE,
SAYING: "BREVITY...IT'S ALL ABOUT BREVITY!"
***********************************************************
O how much better a place
this world would be
if only we could learn the lesson:
"LESS IS MORE."
It is a principle taught to us
every day, by someone...
and diligently observed by
newspaper writers!
Often one sentence...
is one paragraph.
Nice... I think I like it.
Now the crime novel-writers
have picked it up: brevity---
Page and a half chapters!
And it works...."Why, Ah
read fourteen chapters
last night...bet you can't
beat that!"
Less is more---certainly
a principle not observed
by sots and gluttons...
Not that that applies
to any of us!
I have sat thru many speeches
in my life, long ones...
and sermons....long ones...
Some when the preacher
went twenty seven minutes...
had a brilliant one going,
and then started over and went
twenty minutes more.
Attention spans, ages of the
listeners, and bladders all
have to be considered...
O how I felt I was bordering on
sacrilege...needing or wanting
to escape...for after all,
the subject matter was
holy.
Where was Preaching 101
when you needed it.
My Beloved Editor says the same
about me...
"Your stuff is really good, but
you need to shorten it!"
"Well, doncha see, I'm like the
others---I like to hear myself
in print!"
I cook a little. Matter of fact, I am
what they call a SOU Chef!
And can chop celery, peel garlic,
bone chickens, slice steak,
make stews, chili con carne,
and stuff. I learned that less
is more when it comes to salt,
hot peppers,vanilla, oregano,
and vinegar. De gustabus
non est disputandum.
There are some things in life,
which, due to their nature
cannot be shortened. Trips
for one. Another is
baseball. Baseball games
are as long as they are!
(My wife thinks a good baseball
game should be three or four
innings! A nine inning game?
"I don't think so.")
Once she went to a Duke's game---
Fourth of July or something.
Went overtime, lasted thirteen innings!
She was pooped...and nearly dead!
After her discussion with me
about that long game---
I was nearly dead too!
....and it was her
LAST GAME! Ever.
So when we think about it---
Brevity and moderation
may be principles woven into
the fabric of the universe...
Which some Einstein will
eventually discover.
But there are also things...
which we want to last long---
Like vacations...or life itself---
So is the premise: "less is more"
a valid one?
Maybe it should be taken
with a grain of salt---
But ah..ah... not too much!
What If the author of this poem
didn't follow his own premise?
Uh...then we'd just call this long poem...
an EPIC.
********30*******
BY MIL
12/28/13
Sent from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment