Because I wanted
To live exclusively without
Because,
Though although
Was also right there
In the running
Before I decided other-
Wise, my life became
Meaningful—it was as if
I’d finally found a reason
For being here, though
For the life of me,
I could not explain it.
I’ve read this one over several times now. Can’t quite get the flow right—convoluted little bugger this—but I like it although not as much as ‘Cracker-Barrel Philosopher’. I’m sure at school we were taught never to begin a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘because’ but that never stopped me. I always liked the way doing that felt like you were hitting the ground running. Although this feels like a long sentence—a longer sentence than it actually is—it feels too as if it should be a part of an even longer sentence. Of course as kids we were also taught that ‘because’ was not an acceptable answer: no one does anything just because. And yet we did. It made such perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteNo need to tell you we were "taught" a lot of useless things because the system demanded it--why spend precious time (and little money compared to the enormous sums spent on other priorities) trying to make the minnows think? Come to think of it, I don't ever recall any of my English teachers telling us why we should never begin a sentence with 'and' or 'because'-- it was just another commandment that had to be followed OR ELSE.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it, my friend, that when I attempt to conjure the image of your English teacher, what comes to mind is an image of a husky Hun in full goth battle dress, threatening to batter you to death with her handbag if you don't pay up?
ReplyDeleteMy high school English teacher was indeed hefty in stature and instrumental in helping me to love and appreciate literature, so I am indebted to her, but to hint that she would threaten to batter me to death with her handbag if I didn’t pay back the debt would be tantamount to comparing her to Athena The Hun.
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