It’s hell early and I just tried to read a new book out
By an Innishannon-born writer
He did it, he managed to cross the finish line like I’ve been dreaming of doing for years and years
I still haven’t done it and for that alone I think he’s a hero
In my eyes anyway
I know what he did too, he wrote it from the point of view of a punctually inept kid with PTSD
He didn’t do that ‘cos he wants his book to read like The Catcher in the Rye like Edna O’ Brien says he did
But ‘cos he doesn’t have perfect punctuation himself and this was a way for him around that particular obstacle
Maybe I’m wrong but there’s a lot of the writer in the main character
I like it, I like what he did
There’s a hell of a lot more to read and I don’t love reading anywhere near as much as I love writing
So truth told I may never get around to reading it in the end
Not his fault, mine
He’s a hero who has well and truly crossed that finish line
As well as that I like his success so much that I don’t feel the out and out need to rhyme this time
Well I did it there didn’t I?
You get me though so on I will go…
The Gamal the book is called and I like knowing that only over the road really there is a man who was able to make it
Especially when it had come to a time when I didn’t know if I had what it took
I still mightn’t have it and that’s fine right now
I bet he feels great as soon as he wakes up in the morning and gets to see his book on his mother’s kitchen table
In her room, on her bed
Watch his brother or brothers flick through it
It’s his dream not theirs and I’m sure that’s fine by him too
It would be by me
Acknowledgement, that’s what he must like the most right now
You see
I haven’t read a book in about three years, honest to God the thought alone strikes a fear in me
I wonder what he would have to say about making it if I ever bump into him
I wouldn’t dare ask to meet up with him because he’ll tell me that there is talent involved
But a lot of luck comes into the mix too
“Play your cards right”
That’s what he might say
Before starting on his next book, teaching his pupils in school and maybe helping a neighbour out with baling their hay
I really don’t know and that’s the best part, I’m turning him into a fictional character all of his own
Sure isn’t that what we are really, fictional characters, ready and waiting to be made a story of?
Sent from above and landed slap bang in the middle of some sort of setting
I’m off the point again, I always manage to do that
Damn it, stick to the point, another reason I don’t like reading
‘Cos I’m jealous of those writers who are able to concentrate long and hard enough to put those things together
Whatever the weather
Rhyme may come and go with me
But whether or not it takes its time it always comes back
It’s part of me, a way of feeling as though I’m back on track
So The Gamal, a book I look forward to trying to read however long it may take
I do like the cover
But as I say opening it up and getting inside really does make me shudder
Strange maybe but stranger things have happened
Well done to that man, he is now what you can call a real writer
Whereas I’m a little or a lot short of the mark
I’m a ‘writer’
True story