[Last Modified 7/5/00]
To live alone is to be immensely in charge of the silence
So that, if you have something serious to think about, such as
a problem you have to solve, & are determined
to solve,
You'll probably think about that problem long & hard;
& probably (since you're usually able to)
uninterruptedly, too
--Perhaps for entire mornings, afternoons, & evenings;
Or indeed, maybe whole days on end!
In fact, if you're living alone & therefore, when you're home,
are--eek! yipes! & oh horrors!--by yourself
most of the time,
with only yourself to keep yourself company
(Except of course for an occasional, hopefully tension-relieving, relaxingly
welcome guest!)
It's obviously really necessary to concentrate, & reflect,
& think your actions out before you perform
them
Since, after all--just in case you foul up on on things--
You're the only one you're going to be able to blame
For things that happen to go wrong!
Certainly, if you're living alone, it's important to choose those friends,
acquaintances (& any lovers, too!) whom you
do see,
especially wisely & well
--That is, for their & soothing, & relaxing, & unnannoying
qualities
Lest you find yourself entertaining as guests, merely pests
who take advantage of your acquired knack for
problem-solving
And who wreck your hard-won peace-of-mind
By passing along endless problems of their own that they haven't solved
--Being, themselves, far too distracted to do so
By those they regularly reside with.
--Being constantly surrounded each day by, for example:
The cheerful confusions of a busily uproarious, merry family; or perhaps,
the ups & downs of an equally boisterous,
but argumentative,
& dysfunctional one;
Or perhaps, by the turmoil of overly-talkative, excessively sociable
room-mates who interrupt their concentration
constantly
by babbling at them randomly or else coming &
going
all the time--shouting helloes & goodbyes
& then slamming doors
like big, loony cuckoos popping in & out
of cuckoo-clocks;
Or perhaps, by live-in lovers or other close companions, such as spouses,
who all too often, it's been my experience, seem
to feel somehow entitled
to interrupt virtually every physical & mental
move of their living-partners
By asking what they're doing; & why they're doing it, all the time
--Or by any one of the other various, relatively riotous & (I think)
generally God-awful living-arrangements
which humans are
forced into or which, sometimes, they simply
accept or inherit
Or which (much to my amazement!), they often
actually willingly create for
themselves!
--Most of which, IMHO, tend to befuddle people.
--But individuals living alone should not brood too much about such things,
I think
But instead, substitute for such negative, perhaps purely self-defensive,
& possibly unproductive thoughts as those
The positive--& yes! even decidedly festive idea--of carefully
selecting their friends
& associates (& sometime in the future,
perhaps living-partners too)
Exclusively from among that rare, discriminating, well-focussed,
thoughtful,
& IMHO also thoroughly courageous breed of
individuals
Who've been responsible for themselves & for themselves alone--with an
absolute minimum of interruptions!--
For at least some few moments, & for at least some continuous
time,
Within recent memory.
An earlier, longer version of "Of Living Alone--But Not Brooding Too
Much About It"
was first published in Agni © Michael Benedikt l992.
This Webversion © l999 Michael Benedikt.
Michael Benedikt has published five collections of poetry, the most recent of which is The Badminton at Great Barrington; or, Gustave Mahler & The Chattanooga Choo-Choo, a book of love poems (University of Pittsburgh Press, l980). His collections with Wesleyan University Press are Night Cries (prose poems, l976); Mole Notes (prose poems, 1971); Sky (l970); and The Body (l968). His work is represented in more than 60 anthologies of US poetry. Books he has edited include the landmark anthology of global prose poetry The Prose Poem: An International Anthology (Dell/Laurel, l976); and The Poetry of Surrealism (Little, Brown & Co., l974). A former Poetry Editor of The Paris Review, his editorial selections are represented in The Paris Review Anthology (Norton, l990). His literary criticism has appeared in Poetry and The American Book Review, and he is currently a Contributing Ed for American Poetry Review & The Prose Poem: An International Journal. He has taught at Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire, and Vassar College/s; and at Boston University, and occasionally gives readings from his poetry at colleges, universities, and bookstore chains, etc. Benedikt lives in N.Y.C., with E-Mail at benedit1@aol.com.
Note: Selections from Benedikt's books appear at several Websites
SELECTED LINKS TO OTHER BENEDIKT SITES & MINI-SITES
[ALSO, LINKS TO AUTHOR BACKGROUND
INFO]
Click
for The Thesaurus and Other New Verse, with other verse from
work-in-progress entitled Of:
--the manuscript including 'Of Living Alone.'
Site includes a complete 'Guide to Benedikt Mini-Web'
MINI-SITES
'Of An Only Child's World' with poem on an 'Of Living Alone'-like theme. Also from Of:, a work-in-progress
'Of Orson Welles Remarkable l938 Radio Program The War Of The Worlds' with new poem on a sci-fi theme
'Of The Colorful 'Taganka Troupe' in Soviet Russia, l957'
with poem about a sprightly theatre/dance troupe which flourished
despite leaden footed times
'American Vibrations' with poem about some of USA's female erotic pioneers
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This Site Established 1/1/00
