purpose – Ashish Seth

We come alive at night with the treble low and the bass high.
Spend the first hour driving around aimlessly because we can.
The lights all neon like in color spread across the streets carried by rain water.
And after a cold streak I turn around and speak in a possessed whisper:

Life is a dress up.
Or
Life is a constant struggle to mess up.
Or
Life is how you dress up a wound in front of people.
Or
Life is a 2 hour test you study for 16 hours.
Or
Life is a random occurrence made deliberate.
Or
Life is a deliberate purpose made accidental.
Or
Life is the three words said to a person out of desperation.
Or
Life is the hesitation to say the truth to said person.
Or
Life is a talk with a lack of macho emphasis.
Or
Life is too much emphasis on too few sentences.
Or
Life is pretending to be okay when you’re not.
Or
Life is pretending to be hurt when you’re okay.
Or
Life is a movie hall filled to capacity.
Or
Life is a provoked state of brevity for the hasty.
Or
Life is not having to worry about people’s ears.
Or
Life is a bite of expensive pie only meant for your mouth.
Or
Life is a drink from the river we all drink out of.

The bowling balls are getting heavy
I’m about to leave in someone else’s clothes.
Were we ever meant to be? is a redundant question.
Yes, once in a time of pressure and spontaneity.
The only thing we agreed upon was we were both frightened.
I must’ve convinced myself I liked you on purpose.
And that’s how I found myself by accident.
Too many stops for gas on the road to the destination.
If no two roads are alike, then why should I map my path to another person’s life?
Our fears keep us up at night.
Our hopes keep us up tonight.

Anxious, and terrified but alive.

By Ashish Seth
https://twitter.com/TheAshishSeth

August 1, Writerhead – Why I Write

Why I Write. Here’s why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmerFuzRNZ4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This scene is one of Will Smith’s highest achievements. It was all improvised. And he has a great relationship with his father. I think about that and it marvels me. How does someone give a performance like this without having gone through something like that? How is this just improvised? Some art is magical in how it mimics life. I saw this scene when I was very little. Fresh Prince had a lot of scenes that were very formative for me. This one felt like real life. This is the most powerful scene I’ve ever watched. Nothing has ever really come close. This scene reminds me of what the essence is of what I’m trying to do with my writing. It may all seem dark. It may all seem twisted and creepy and messed up. It may all seem like it’s a plot unfolding. But I’m honestly trying to get to the underlying humanity of why people are the way they are. That has always been my aim. Like Will Smith in this scene, the goal has always been to reach a cathartic depth that transcends the fact that you’re reading a book, a depth that all people can connect with even if they can’t, and to do so all with a crazy handful of nothing.

By Ashish Seth

If you can’t win her heart, win your’s back.