What would you like to work on today?
“I’d like to figure out this metaphor that’s been careening through my mind lately.”
I sense you wanted to use a word other than figure, there.
“I did. I wanted to say ‘flesh’, but as the metaphor has to do with a car and movement, I just . . .”
Use whichever you like.
“I’d like to flesh-out this metaphor about being stuck. Or not actually stuck. More like unstarted?”
What is the difference?
“Stuck feels to me like you’re going somewhere and end up in a flash bog or snowbank. In this metaphor, I’ve yet to begin.”
What will you begin?
“A journey. The metaphor is about a journey. Specifically, a journey to somewhere far away.”
I’m thinking about that Tracy Chapman song.
“Yes, that’s good!”
Tell me more.
“Without a car, that journey – say, from here to Dallas – is impossible. Cowboys made the journey, once, on horseback, but for all intents and purposes, today that journey is impossible, in my metaphor, without a car. I can’t –”
Busses and planes, then, are out of the question?
“For this metaphor, they are.”
What has to happen to start the journey?
“That’s just it. The car has to start. Until the car can be started, the journey is impossible. Completely impossible. Not even worth dreaming about. It’s absolutely fucking imp – I’m sorry, this, it’s just, I . . .”
Tell me more.
“If you can just get the key in the ignition. Just get the engine turned over. Just get the car out of the driveway, of its own power. Everything becomes possible. Think of it, the difference in getting from the driveway to the street, like, what, ten meters, less, changes everything.”
What about this metaphor works better for you than ‘steps’?
“The possibility. How vast the possibility once you’re out of the driveway.”
What will you do next?
“Put the key in the ignition and turn. Even if it’s mundane. That’s what I need to do.”
Will you do that in the next two days?
“Yes, I will.”
Can I ping you at the end of the week and ask if you have?
“Please do, yes.”
__