“I think the telling itself must be the inclusion
of everyone. It isn’t about technique, it’s about
inclusion. I don’t want to be included, but
I can’t refrain from speaking. I know I sound
plaintive. I sound desperate. I sound happy,
even though the world is a frightful dream.
I am standing somewhere underground, in
an underworld, with all the others. I never
wanted this. I am one of many, but I am
unique. Saying “one of many” and saying
“unique” hurts me. I am just a record player now.
I am the dead. Or, I am a dead man. I
have never been words, but words have never
been words. In language I combine my flesh
with yours, and you with mine; my flesh
is tender, my skin aches from knowing you,
my hand can’t really touch you, but if you
say “I” I’ll say “I.” I want to say “we” but I can’t.
I can; but I think that I won’t do that here.
I take a word like “morals” and try to weigh it
in my mind. It has no weight today. I think
it has, I just accept it. I don’t ever want to leave.
ALICE NOTLEY (from Certain Magical Acts)
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Seth Godin's Akimbo podcast: https://www.akimbo.link/
For more on graphomania & hypergraphia, check out Alice W. Flaherty's excellent The Midnight Disease.
