indoor animal light ~ 1

It'll be "summer hours" here at ia for the next three weeks or so. That means less digression, less opinion, less calories. A few hearty projects – and one morsel of travel – have piled up on top of one another on my end, but I didn't want to go dark until mid- to late-August. There's a thing I like to say about the creative lifestyle, which I'll now apply to ia:

Something is more than nothing, even if it isn't everything. ~ me

If I'm procrastinating but need to accomplish a bit of writing, I say it. If I wanted to write 5 pages but only got through 3, I say it. It may be letting myself off the hook, but it also may be me being kind to myself.

So here is your "something" for today – it isn't everything, but it's more than nothing.

"Once there came a man"
By Stephen Crane

Once there came a man
Who said:
“Range me all men of the world in rows.”
And instantly
There was a terrific clamor among the people
Against being ranged in rows.
There was a loud quarrel, world-wide.
It endured for ages;
And blood was shed
By those who would not stand in rows,
And by those who pined to stand in rows.
Eventually, the man went to death, weeping.
And those who stayed in the bloody scuffle
Knew not the great simplicity.

I will write more about this author in a future post. Though most only know him for his 1895 masterpiece of a novel The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane wrote a lot more, having published somewhere in the range of 2000 pages of writing before his untimely death at 28. Seriously.

I find so much of his work meaningful and magical. His poetry sticks with me in particular. For one, it never rhymes. He referred to his short poems, like the one above, as "pills." I see why – they can be hard to swallow. This one's from the poetry collection The Black Riders and Other Lines, published in 1895.

He himself considered this poetry collection superior to his famous novel. To this day, when I see conflicts in person or on the news – protests, wars, political clashes, etc. – I think of this poem. And I fear we know not the "great simplicity."

* I've stood in this section of this cemetery. His is the first author's grave I ever visited.

indoor animal is curated by a human: Tim Papciak. On Mondays, he shares one link to one music video to help spark creativity in himself and in other creative types. On Thursdays, he recommends a book, movie, show, art piece, or link to some dusty corner of the internet that he believes either 1.) adds to the human experience, or 2.) serves as a coping mechanism in the year 2025. Note: this is not, and never will be, self-help content.