Superfluous "N"
"Oh, the moon is shinning in the dinning room.
the moon is shinning in the dinning room.
What can we do with this
moon that is shinning in the dinning room?"
One too many letters in a word kept me from putting
my thoughts and stories onto paper for more than thirty five years.
I was just a visual artist and had proof that I should
not play around with words.
When I was in Junior College I had the misfortune
to submit my first poem to the "creative writing" magazine,
a mimeographed publication folded and bound
with a pair of tandem staples in the gutter.
I had not previously written anything outside of class work.
This long lost poem was doubtless just the trite feelings
of a young person poorly put onto paper, my first writing attempt.
I was too sensitive to take any criticism, even constructive.
So, when the faculty adviser of the publication asked to speak
with me about my submission and proceeded to shred my poem,
I shrunk back into my shell and didn't show any of my words
for thirty five years.
What stung me the most was
the English teacher was focused on the
misspelling of one particular word:
shining.
She taunted me, chanting again and again:
"The Moon is SHINNING in the DINNING room".
Naturally, the poem was rejected.
I likely tore it up.
There was no moon and no dining room in my lost poem,
for all I know or can be certain of
is the poem contained the word: Shining,
albeit it with a superfluous "n".
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