So, I used my father’s cane for two days, and it was very helpful. I’m still down with a bad back, but I can get around a little now. I even made supper last night. I’m not using the cane anymore.
I haven’t written all week. One day of that is due to fuzziness brought on by pain pills (I hate them). My thinking has been scattered the rest of this week too, pain pill or not, as I struggle to get around. The rest of my inertia is due to a bit of a crisis of confidence working on the current project. That will pass.
The process of re-emerging into the world feels a little like coming up for air after being underwater (a driving metaphor of my first novel, Like Under Water). The horse latitudes of today’s title refer to the becalmed areas of the world’s oceans, roughly around the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, where, according to legend, sailors used to throw horses off the side of the ship, either to discard them after consuming their blood and meat, or to lessen the weight of the boat (it’s also the title of a pretentious but memorable Doors tune, from which I plucked the phrase “mute nostril agony” for my subtitle). The story is probably apocryphal, but it makes for a good metaphor.
So. I’m looking for the wind to help fill my sails today. As I put away my father’s cane until the next time I need it, and begin to return phone calls and emails and texts, I see an image of a horse struggling in the vast depths of the ocean, legs churning, neck stretched out toward the sky. I realize the metaphor is supposed to have me as the dead-in-the-water ship, as opposed to the struggling horse, but I can’t control the image my mind reaches for. It’s my back doing the talking. I’ll pick up my responsibilities where I last left them. This becalmed sea will not stay calm forever. Storms will pound the deck again. It’s time to take my bearings, look to the stars to determine my location, correct my course, and sail again.
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The links:
My latest story: Fuck, Marry, Kill
February’s story: Veronica Scissors
My website: jeffmwood.com.
My Amazon page.
My erotic story series, Serious Moonlight (as J G Cain)
Peace.