Writing Exercise: The Many Careers of Renforth Dixon

Welcome back! If you are reading this that means I have managed to string together a post for eleven consecutive weeks and I still have some posts in reserve. It might not seem like much, but given my modest time-management skills and the current demands of my time, I will take this short streak as a small victory.

Ten minutes

Handwritten

Prompt line: For the fact of the matter is, other than the poems themselves, he had not forgotten any of it.

There has never been a man so gifted at something yet, by most outsiders perspectives, so utterly disrespectful of the craft at which he unequivocally excelled.

Renforth Dixon is possibly the greatest poet Tennessee has ever created. His poetry is taught in schools, all over the United States and even in places as far off as Australia. Yet when fans visit him in his hometown of Bluefoot, Tennessee and ask him to recite some of his poetry he refuses, claiming he cannot remember any of them. Each was written in one session with every little correction. That was his gift. Most people thought that as he had forgotten his poems so too had he forgotten the adventurous life he had lived, but that was not the case. For the fact of the matter is, other than the poems themselves, he had not forgotten any of it.

He just didn’t care. It was part of his youth and he was now an old man. He let his fans love his poetry more than he did.