I don’t know why it popped into my head, but I realised that the earworm which was dogging me was ‘MacArthur Park’. sung by Richard Harris which was recorded in 1968 but released in 1967. When I heard it first years ago on the radio, like many people, I was intrigued by the strange lyric while also enjoying the melody and the song itself. I guess I have the idea of surreal things on my mind because as I’ve mentioned a couple of times, the challenge for our next writing group is to write something surreal. In fact, according to Jimmy Webb who wrote it, the odd things which were seen in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles had actually been in the park when he was wandering around heartbroken, after the end of an affair. Wikipedia tells me MacArthur Park was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and is fed by natural springs.
So thinking about the writing group, maybe next time I’m out somewhere, maybe I should list random, unconnected but maybe odd things I notice… But wait! I do that already! I’ve shared here before a list of my observations, but have just left it at that.
I’m now just looking back at my notes, things I haven’t written about already, and the first note I see is Welsh moss-gathering (yes, it is a real thing) and another note about someone who bathes in starlight under the Milky Way – again in Wales, and says they were ‘blown away’. Well, supposing in my story they were literally blown away. I know there are solar winds, but supposing there are also stellar winds? I also have noted the wonderful name Lærke which means Lark – if the main character in my story is Lærke, maybe she could be the one moss-gathering and moon-bathing?!
I look further back in my notes and find this:
I looked down at the dog and the dog looked up at me.
“Should we?”I asked.
“Yes, why not?” he replied.
“If you’re sure,” I wasn’t convinced, actually, it seemed a crazy idea.
“Yes, I’m sure and anyway you clearly have no better or even any other idea”
This was true.
How was the character able to communicate with the dog? S/he used T-path. What is that? Apparently, and I’m not sure if I made this up, it means telepathy, but you have to switch your brain to using it.
Well, it seems as if I may very well have a surreal story – or at least the bones of it!
Lois Elsden 