Words Down 17-Jul-2023 - Ocean Vuong "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous"

SPEED WRITES

1. Memory is a choice

The things we remember

Are those that choose to be remembered.

...

I did not say it was YOUR choice.

Life chooses your memories for you.

You can exert mental pressure to change the choice

It rarely works

But it is noble to try.

2. The porch lights turn on

Triggered as usual

By an unknown car

driving past to an unknown destination

containing unknown people.

After a moment

They realise that they do not care about those people

And the darkness returns.

3. I wake to the sound of an animal in distress

I turn on the light and can spot no animal

I walk out of the room onto the landing

And no creature greets my eyes

I head downstairs, flicking switches as I go

Each fresh room I illuminate reveals no living things

Except for me. I realise.

I am the animal in distress.

4. The woman walks forward

That is, after all, much easier than walking backwards.

The child with her chooses not to have an easy life

And instead skips sideways, clutching her umbrella in one tiny fist

And the strap of her teddy-bear rucksack in the other

Her bright yellow raincoat a contrast against the greys of the city street

5. When the door opens 

a breeze rushes through and an open window at the back of the house slams closed with a bang. I'm distracted and it makes me jump.

I was not ready for the noise.

Jack is very apologetic but I should have closed that window as soon as the sun went down, so I smile, treating it as a timely reminder.

I lock the window as Jack closes the door. 

"Listen" he says, that eager look on his face that he always gets when he has what he thinks is an amazing plan. 

"I have an amazing plan." 

THE BIG WRITE

Write a letter, in character, possibly starting with "There is so much I want to tell you" or similar, to someone your character is close to / has a level of intimacy with.

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I have so much I want to tell you. Since I was with you, things have changed a lot. I've not seen most of my friends or family for a long time, I'm not sure how long, but it's getting so that their faces are starting to swim like the koi carp in the pond in my new home, never quite clear, and getting more distorted when I reach out and try to touch them. Yours, so far, remains sharp and clear, partly on its own, partly through the imposition of my will on my own memory It's colder here then it was where you are. Of course I'm only assuming you're still there, and if not, that someone arranges for this to reach you. It's not easy to find someone when you leave first and then you don't know if they have also gone.

Very unfinished. Idea is that it's from a dog that's been rescued from somewhere overseas to one of his friends in the kennels.