Tom Turner at Home in Seattle (In his notes, I came across a Kierkegaard quote, which I used to start the following three-fragment poem, which reflects Tom’s philosophy.)
I
The whole of my being shrieks in contradiction. To live is to suffer this clash of opposites— to despair is to forget it.
II
I am the tension: finite and infinite, time and eternity. If I dissolve it, I lose myself.
III
The contradiction is not my enemy— it is my teacher. Through it, I hear the Spirit whisper, though I only answer in silence.
In Tom’s notes under, “Nostalgia For Lost Illusions,” he wrote:
“A person becomes a writer Because they are deficient. They have problems. They are crazy. They have unhappy families. They are eccentric, and Not because they read A lot of books.”
‘As we grow older, the world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated . . .’ Complications, ambiguities, nonsequiturs. I keep searching for clarity . . . lucidity; and I know each time I seek that I’ll become more entangled. No, I’m not bored — just scared.”
When we planned our Alaska cruise, we did so with the desire to get together my nieces, Lisa and Vanessa, who live in the Seattle area. Our Road Trip/Cruise plan would be to spend the weekend in Seattle after the Alaska cruise. However, even with the best-made plans, we could only spend time with Lisa and Mike. Vanessa was recovering from surgery, and her husband Jonn had pneumonia.
Tom Turner, a Rainy Day on the Seattle Waterfront (June, 2000) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
(These quotes were among Tom’s handwritten notes.)
“A person becomes a writer because they’re deficient. They have problems. They’re crazy. They have unhappy families. They’re eccentric. And not because they’ve read a lot of books necessarily, but on the contrary — maybe they haven’t read enough books. There’s a strong irrationality about the writing life. Often a writer writes just to maintain their sanity. The way an addict needs to perform a certain ritual of mainlining, a writer kind of has to do it in order to keep his or her head on straight.”
— Paul Theroux
“The whole content of my being shrieks in contradiction against itself.”
Tom Turner, a Rainy Day on the Seattle Waterfront (June, 2000) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
