Calligraphy by Jeanne
It’s the birthday of journalist, nonfiction author, and writing teacher William Zinsser (books by this author), born in New York City in 1922. He’s written several books, including a couple of memoirs and books about travel, jazz, and baseball. His best-known work is On Writing Well (1976). In it he advocates a clean, spare style: “Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills, and meaningless jargon.”
He has a bit of advice for would-be authors of memoir: “Be yourself and your readers will follow you anywhere. Try to commit an act of writing and they will jump overboard to get away.”
Mambo Cadillac
by Barbara Hamby
Drive me to the edge in your Mambo Cadillac, turn left at the graveyard and gas that baby, the blacknight ringing with its holy roller scream. I’ll clock
you on the highway at three a.m., brother, amen, smack
the road as hard as we can, because I’m gonna crack
the world in two, make a hoodoo soup with chicken necks,
a gumbo with plutonium roux, a little snack
before the dirt-and-jalapeño stew that will shuckt
he skin right off your slinky hips, Mr. I’m-not-stuck
in-a-middle-class-prison-with-someone-I-hate sack
of blues. Put on your high-wire shoes, Mr. Right, and stick
with me. I’m going nowhere fast, the burlesque
queen of this dim scene, I want to feel the wind, the Glock
in my mouth, going south, down-by-the-riverside shock
of the view. Take me to Shingles Fried Chicken Shack
in your Mambo Cadillac. I was gone, but I’m back
for good this time. I’ve taken a shine to daylight. Crank
up that radio, baby, put on some dance music
and shake your moneymaker, doll, rev it up to Mach
2, I’m talking to you, Mr. Magoo. Sit up, check
out that blonde with the leopard print tattoo. O she’ll lick
the sugar right off your doughnut and bill you, too, speak
French while she do the do. Parlez-vous français? So, pick
me up tonight at ten in your Mambo Cadillac
Chile, Argentina, Peru. Take some time off work;
we’re gonna be a lot longer than a week
or two. Is this D-day or Waterloo? White or black—
it’s up to you. We’ll be in Mexico tonight. Pack
a razor, pack some glue. Things fall apart off the track,
cause you’re looking for love, but I’m looking for a wreck.
“Mambo Cadillac” by Barbara Hamby, from All-Night Lingo Tango. © University of Pittsburg Press, 2009.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2022
“The Gospel calls us to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” (Mt 3:2) It summons us to a new relationship with God and also entails a different relationship with others and with creation. Safeguarding God’s work is an essential part of the Christian life.”
Pope Francis
The Vibrant Channeled Creator 