Makoto Shinkai English Fan Forum and Site

AT · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:48 am Post subject: guerrilla.moon

This is a post about waking up too early, before the sun has a chance to rise, before the chorus of birdsong can begin, before the graveyard shift workers have a chance to hit the sack. It is about discovering that the whole house, no, the entire neighbourhood, is exceptionally quiet. And when you step out of the house in a rare effort to buy that McDonald’s breakfast you were yearning for the previous night (there is no such thing as “last night”), you realise that it is one of those rare moments - like those in the dramas, where the nine planets (depending on whether you still believe in Pluto) are in perfect alignment - there are no cars on the road and this Singapore we’re talking about, the “futuristic city” that is ranked 22 in issue 15 of Monocle. You can’t help but think that the traffic lights are in perfect alignment that day. And you make a wish because this moment is rarer than catching a shooting star. “I will become a writer.” And you’re lucky because not one second later, a torrent of cars roared down the streets, destroying the serenity, made more precious because of it lasted for only a brief moment.

This is a post about that rainy afternoon in the house, with no one around you to disturb you because your folks are out and your Napoleonic siblings are ensconced in school. It is the perfect time to finish that article due tomorrow noon because you’ve always find rain inspiring. Rain is probably the most inspiring thing in the world, next to a lover. You try to finish that article because if not, your editor is going to be pissed and pissed off editors may result in the end of your freelance writing career. But you find that you’re thirsty - not water-thirsty but just thirsty - so you decide to make a pot of Marks & Spencer’s extra strong Ceylon tea. You take out the Royal Doulton 1940 English Chintz tea service which has been hiding away in a corner of the cupboard, waiting for a damn long time to be used but there was never an appropriate moment which warranted taking out a $300 tea service. To placate your inner self, you argue that there will never be such a moment anyway - no point in keeping it in mint condition. And screw that article for now. You’ll work through the night if need be. Finally you settle yourself next to the window -imagine a table set next to a glass window with the tea service in the middle and the aroma of hot Ceylon tea wafting through the air. And as you sip the tea, letting the warmth gently in your stomach, you look out of the window. There is no view because of the rain streaming down the glass in sheets. Strangely, the refracted view is a soothing one. You feel like all your troubles in the world will be washed away by the pouring rain. You can’t help but snuggle deeper into your chair and hug your knees, enjoying the rain concerto.

This is a post about staying up late when the entire forsaken world is already tucked in bed. To be exact, until four in the morning. You stay up to write because a flash of inspiration hit you when you were getting ready for bed. And you stay up even though you have an appointment in the morning. Perhaps this post is really about inspiration, about that moment of eureka that occurs during the long train ride. And even though you’re stuck with passengers who stink of sweat early in the morning, it is about that whiff of scented shampoo that you suddenly smell. Mmm, apple and grape extract. And you realise the source: the beautiful petite lady standing next to you. How in the world could you have missed it? Must be the brutes.

But maybe this post is also about style. About writing in your own style because yours have been criticised for being too lyrical, too poetic, too full of imagery, too ambiguous, too many words… Such articles, publishers and other freelance writers advise, will not sell. But since you believe in yourself, you continue to write this way whenever possible.

Because through words, I emote.

So I write here, my Guerrilla Moon. Since I have no mouth and I must scream.

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"A word after a word after a word is power." --Margaret Atwood
http://www.plurk.com/user/guerrillapoet

Nick · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:52 am Post subject:

Hmm. Interesting.
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There are certain moments where some people should just be left unknown.

Junpei · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 6:56 am Post subject:

I thought at first, this was from you AT.

Great stuff, powerful.

Nick · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:03 am Post subject:

Wait - did you write this, AT?
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There are certain moments where some people should just be left unknown.

AT · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:46 am Post subject:

Nick · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:51 am Post subject:

No, I thought you wrote it - but Junpei's comment confused me. I did a google search on a couple of lines and your blog came up.
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There are certain moments where some people should just be left unknown.

AT · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:04 am Post subject:

Well he was probably under the impression that I copied it from the web log? Very Happy

Communication is all miscommunication. Haha.
_________________
"A word after a word after a word is power." --Margaret Atwood
http://www.plurk.com/user/guerrillapoet

Menasha · vc_bios_b960909 Joined: 27 Jan 2008 Posts: 822

I enjoy these kind of things, just someone elses pure thoughts.
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You know your old when, you reapeat things... you repeat things... you repeat things.

Janny · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 9:33 am Post subject:

I'm pretty sure all of us can relate to staying up late at night because of a sudden inspiration hit. ^_^ Awesome writing style, btw.
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Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.

AT · Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:21 am Post subject:

Thank you Janny Smile

Next, a WIP (work-in-progress inspired by Five Centimetres Per Second); the syntax is somewhat awkward and it feels unfinished. 2nd Person address sounds funny.

Cosmonaut
Two bodies touched

two boats drawn up

beside each other, abreast

as one waves to another,

communicates

painstakingly

_____________passionately

_________________________purposefully

You would never have guessed that

In those two boats sit two

with the entire cosmos conjured

between them as

two bodies together

Yet two hearts

_________________
"A word after a word after a word is power." --Margaret Atwood
http://www.plurk.com/user/guerrillapoet