GOOD WRITING

I HAVE NO USE FOR MODERN, POPULAR ART, MUSIC OR SPORTS, BUT GOOD WRITING IS NOT ONLY USEFUL BUT PRICELESS. YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN OR WHERE THE LITERAL OR METAPHORICAL LYRICISM OF PROSE WILL EMERGE FROM THE HAZE OF PHONEY LITERARY OBFUSCATION. A YOUNG PERSON MAY BE THE CREATOR, SOMEONE WHO SOMEHOW HAS INTERNALIZED THE VALUE OF READING AND THE VALUE OF SPEAKING AND WRITING CLEARLY. THIS YOUNG WRITER SURELY WILL INFORM AND ENTERTAIN SIMULTANEOUSLY WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A CRAFT. ANYWAY, I RECENTLY READ A MARVELOUS PASSAGE THAT LIFTED ME OUT OF AND BLASTED MY RESERVATIONS ABOUT POPULAR LITERATURE. CHECK THIS OUT:

"THE WIND WAS OUT OF THE SOUTH AND HAD TEASED UP A 3-FOOT SEA. BATTALIONS OF WAVES PARADED BY, HEADING NORTH. I COULD NOT SEE WHERE THEY STORMED THE BEACH, BUT IMAGINED IT MIGHT BE JUST ABOVE THE PEBBLY SPIT OF MONEY POINT. SOME OF THE OFFICERS ON HORSEBACK NODDED SHOCKS OF WHITE HAIR WHILE MASSES OF LOWER-RANK SAILORS KEPT EYES FORWARD AND STERNLY MARCHED IN THE MOST REHEARSED FASHION TO THE WIND THAT GUSTED AND RELAXED WITH THE BEAT OF SOME PATRIOTIC SONG. I COULD NOT HEAR THE TUNE BUT FELT THE RHYTHM OF BOOTED FEET HITTING OCEAN FLOOR. THE TREES LINING THE SHORE WAVED LIKE SPECTATORS, SOME WITH CHILDREN ON THEIR SHOULDERS. SOME OF THE OLD GUARD EVEN SALUTED."

IT IS IRREFUTABLE FROM HER DESCRIPTION IN THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES THAT LINDA GREENLAW OBSERVED, HEARD, FELT AND YES, INTERNALIZED, WATER MARTIALLY ADVANCING TO A SHORE SOMEWHERE IN MAINE. HER SIMPLE METAPHORS TRANSLATE WITH SIMPLE WORDS. THE WAVES, SOLDIERS, THE WHITE CAPS, ELDERLY LEADERS. THE NOISY REPETITIVENESS, FEET POUNDING, THE TREES, ONLOOKERS. IT REMINDS ME OF A PAINTING DEPICTING WITH A DIFFERENT METAPHORICAL INTERPRETATION OF SURF AS WILD, WHITE HORSES. THANK YOU LINDA, FOR A COMPLICATED, SPARKLING AND STIRRING PICTURE. A PURE PLEASURE TO READ.