Happy Monday👋🏼
Welcome to our monthly roundup, “the links.”
The school year has begun.
If you’re reading this on Monday, I have my first class today for the masters program I’m starting. So that’s on my mind.
I’m a hater when it comes to fall. I hate that it takes summer from us.
But I’m trying to find something to enjoy about it this year, so I want to know:
Weather and seasons are well-trodden paths when it comes to poetry, but I couldn’t help myself with last week’s post.
Here are the month’s links, starting with that poem, Blue City.
🏌️♂️ The Links
This month’s posts and podcasts. Catch what you missed or forward to a friend.
Funny story, I spent way too long stressing over the image for this poem.
I was hoping you wouldn’t fixate too hard on it being a photo of Paris. I’ve never been to France, but power lines buzzing and school buses in the street aren’t how I personally picture it.
After probably twenty minutes of searching for a picture with the right colors, I just made myself pick something.
A similar type of perfectionism touched these last two posts as well.
I consider them both related to the case for books I posted in July.
That post was written while I was studying out of the country, though the thoughts had been circulating for some time. What I’ve learned—and what I’m learning increasingly—is that there’s no time for perfection with weekly posts. I get the privilege of meeting you in real time, from whichever moment I’m writing and whatever time and place you’re reading.
If I decide there’s more to say later, there’s no rule stopping that.
The only rule is that Monday’s always coming.
There’s a common school of thought that writers/speakers/whoever each have a few key themes that they repeat in different ways.
If that’s the case, this is one of mine. Remove books from the conversation, and I think the concept stands.
So much advice today boils down to the idea that being a person is bad. If we could strip eating, drinking, reading, and all the inefficient time out of our days, we would finally be perfect.
My attempt with this piece was twofold: One, to show it’s a flawed way of thinking. And two, to show how guilty each of us are of entertaining it.
There we have it.
Wish me luck on my classes, and I wish you well with whatever work/school/play you’re up to today.
And if you don’t mind, consider sharing the newsletter with a friend.
Until next time 🤝
Tim