#20
After the Rewrite, the Rewrite

The dead are framework for all our expectations. Passersby, each of us. Yet, death is almost always a surprise. That is the deep source of the mortal panic we feel when we read what we've written. It is never the right time to die and a written work is never good enough.

And so, we rewrite, because as Paul assures us the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Our written words are dead and require resurrection. The first draft is our prophetic love for life. And the rewrite our spirited response, that shimmer of knowing wedged between us and the audacity of the world. There is never any going back anyway, so the dead leave us no choice. In their presence, only hesitation is an error.