Small Steps

The other day began as a lazy Saturday morning spent at my computer, counting the minutes until my brother came home from college for winter break. I decided blog-surfing was the perfect pastime, and I ended up discovering quite the gem: a blog called Writer Unboxed, self-described as focusing on "the craft and business of genre fiction". I spent a considerable portion of my morning scrolling through its posts, perusing its contents for inspiration for my own blog. The post I found most stirring was entitled "Lettuce and Gold".

The gist of the post was the importance of self-discovery in literature, and how this self-discovery can occur at any moment, in an infinite number of ways. It's about the profound meaning that can be found in the most trivial of details, if you just take the time to look for it. My favorite part of the post is the ending:

"Is it too much to pack personal insight into every scene? I'd say to leave it out is to do too little. Small steps add up to a journey. There's even meaning in lettuce if you look for it. When you find it, it's gold. Pick it up. Give it away. The journey is for sharing."

As an aspiring writer, this blog post came as a sort of comfort to me. So often, I set out to write a poem or a story, but I get too caught up in the abstract idea I'm trying to convey that the dreaded state of writer's block hits me. I want to write about love, about heartbreak, about happiness...but perhaps, instead, I should be writing about lettuce. I think the point that Donald Maass, the author, is trying to make is that it's often the simplest moments that carry the most profundity. This is an important message for both writers and readers to keep in mind, but I think it's also applicable on a universal level to life in general. I believe it's a natural human tendency to define our own life narratives by the "milestones" of our lives, the moments that are largest, loudest, flashiest. As Maass points out, it's equally important to appreciate the quieter pleasures, such as purchasing lettuce.

The message behind "Lettuce and Gold" instantly reminded me of the following poem by William Carlos Williams, one that is deceptively simple with seemingly insignificant subject matter.

This is Just to Say

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

Perhaps Williams intended for this poem to merely illustrate the speaker's guilt coupled with his enjoyment of the delicious plums he took. Other interpretations claim that the poem was meant to serve as a commentary on the speaker's relationship with his wife, or relationships in general. To some, the speaker seems to sincerely regret taking the plums; to others, he seems satisfied, happy even. Regardless, the poem illustrates how even the most ordinary circumstances have layers of complexity. Essentially, even lettuce and plums carry meaning. You just have to look for it.