Quiet Rebel Writer

Welcome back, everyone! Thank you for your patience during my two-day exile. Being without consistent interweb action? Horribly painful. Being hooked up again, with full connectivity to the whole wide world, and all you lovely blog readers? Delightful.

During this brief break, J and I moved from our apartment of six years into a new loft. The move was nearly seamless, with only brief death threats from our movers after relocating nearly 50 boxes of books, and just two broken glasses. Now we’re at the fun but exhausting part – unloading, putting together new furniture, and calming a seriously freaked out kitteh.

So how to get back into the workweek after all that? A little inspiration, of course. Beat the block with our Monday date: a creative kick in the arse.

Killer writing, in all its various forms, is an inspiration to me. Looking at writing I love reminds me of what’s possible, why I want to write in the first place, why my freelance life kicks ass, and why I enjoy creating. Song lyrics are especially potent to me. I’m not a big fan of straight-up poetry, but put a well-turned phrase and some nifty symbolism to a melancholy or rockin’ tune, and I’m hooked.

For today’s Monday Date, I’ll share some lyrics from a song I’ve had in my head all weekend as I unpacked!

Wilco just rocks. That’s all there is to it. They’ve changed their sound over the last few albums, but yet seem consistent, polished, and relevant. Sky Blue Sky, their most recent, sounds good. “Hate it Here” is a simple little song at first, one that seems so mundane and normal, but it opens up, both lyrically and musically, till you feel crunched and shattered at the end.

I try to stay busy
I do the dishes, I mow the lawn
I try to keep myself occupied
Even though I know you’re not coming home

I try to keep the house nice and neat
I make my bed I change the sheets
I even learned how to use the washing machine
But keeping things clean doesn’t change anything

What am I gonna do when I run out of shirts to fold?
What am I gonna do when I run out of lawn to mow?
What am I gonna do if you never come home?
Tell me, what am I gonna do?

I hate it
I hate it here
When you’re gone

I caught myself thinking
I caught myself thinking once again
Have to try to keep my mind out of this
Try not to pretend

I’ll check the phone
I’ll check the mail
I’ll check the phone again and I call your mom
She says you’re not there and I should take care

I hate it here
When you’re gone
I hate it
I hate it here
When you’re gone

I try to stay busy
I take out the trash, I sweep the floor
Try to keep myself occupied
Cause I know you don’t live here anymore

Here’s a terrific performance of the song:

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