Disenchanted

••••

The way AI can’t cry.

Can’t feel the insistent refrain of a single sentence thrumming in the brain like a soft rain, can’t see dark clouds boiling slow and low across the western lay. Can’t hold up a life of shattered attempts in trembling hands and have the shaking steadied by mercy. Can’t taste lemon, LEMON, a taste, a sound, that slices clean through riches and memory.

Haven’t done a #twentywordtuesday in a long-minute.

It was profoundly satisfying to find this was exactly twenty words on first composition. Some of you are new enough here you may not even be familiar with Twenty Word Tuesday. If so, it’s exactly what it sounds like, a short-form writing challenge that I started back in March of 2022 (I think), twenty words, any topic, posted on a Tuesday. There are about 1,000 entries (primarily on Instagram) that you can peruse by clicking the hashtag and browsing.

I owe that little hashtag a lot,

it was my introduction as an adult to a regular practice of writing, to many wonderful writing friends scattered all around the world and to the core belief that, in a world of long-form content (which I love to a point), brevity is both beautiful and profound.