Between Let and Go

 

November had become December without my noticing or caring. The man-cave stunk, there was no food left, and every time I walked by the hallway mirror, I cringed at the creature who looked back at me. It was painfully apparent that I hadn’t recovered from the election. What now? I wondered.

When whoever was at the door continued knocking, I roused myself from the apathetic stupor enveloping me like a cloud of garbage-loving flies, pulled my latest and untested invention from where it hung in the closet, and braced myself for some sort of return to the world.

I was hardly surprised when I opened the door to find Jeffrey Dahmer and Hannibal Lecter sporting MAGA hats and sadistic grins. “Hello sport,” they chorused. “We’re here to tell you all about the future of our country as we take it back.”

“I’ll show you back,” I growled as I set my phaser to the permanent fragmentation setting and blasted both of them into an alternate reality.

Letting go is our theme this month. I was extremely involved in last month’s election-contributing money, writing postcards, helping a local candidate get elected, and being a ballot clerk for 13 hours on election day. The results left me feeling dead inside, something that last happened right after 9/11. Getting out of bed was about the best I could do and as for writing? Fugeddaboutit.

I wasn’t sure whether I could bounce back, but then the opportunity to submit a short story to an anthology competition called Retribution and Revenge-what results from the 2024 election, presented itself. The theme appealed to that dark and scary room in my head where black humor reigns supreme. I will tell you that it was difficult and uncomfortable to get my internal creative self up to speed, but writing the piece allowed a lot of creative scar tissue to break. My writing isn’t back to where I’d like, but at least I have the inner assurance that it ain’t dead.

What, you ask am I letting go of? How about this...My overly developed connection to daily reality for starters. I have to keep reminding myself that I am powerless over people, places and things, but NOT my attitude. I’m modifying the old saying about when the going gets tough. It now reads ‘When the going gets tough, dive into the insanity and find something to write about.’

What are you doing to feed your creative insanity these days?