Two things from GK

I love Garrison Keillor. Yesterday, I caught the Writer's Almanac on the way to work (somehow I often miss it). And he talked about Virginia Woolf who seems like someone I would love. Instead, I have not been able to get through a single one of her books. I skimmed A Room of One's Own in college. It just didn't work for me. But, yesterday was Woolf's birthday. And GK quoted her:

"So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say. But to sacrifice a hair of the head of your vision, a shade of its colour, in deference to some Headmaster with a silver pot in his hand or to some professor with a measuring-rod up his sleeve, is the most abject treachery."

Isn't that brilliant? I need to remember that when I write a sermon or in my journal or on a wall. Or whatever. And then, GK read this poem that captures my heart. So, I have to share it.

understudy

She just wants an understudy, a body
double for the days when she does
not feel like appearing in any of the roles
she has assumed and/or been assigned.
She places an ad in the paper. Wanted:
one wife, mother, daughter, neighbor,
friend. Live-in OK. Own car necessary.
No lines to memorize; everything ad-
libbed. No days off.

"understudy" by Beverly Rollwagen, from She Just Wants. © Nodin Press. (I have no permission, hopefully I won't get in trouble.)