What Ellen Kennedy does to me

Ellen Kennedy's new book can be purchased here.

Writing does a lot of things, one of them is make us think about our own things. This is what Ellen Kennedy reminds me of in my life.

From her Bear Parade Book called Yesterday I was Talking to myself.

She writes, "and watched ducks swim away from me."

Ducks are really intense to me. There is this large pond with a water fall about a mile from house. You can see it when driving down Tibbits Wick Road. It is located on this land owned by the Catholic Church designated for nuns. Sometimes you see nuns walking around the lake feeding ducks bread. In the winter there were these ducks walking on the ice. One of the ducks was standing on the precipice of the waterfall staring over. It looked like the duck was going to kill itself. But then I realized ducks could fly.

Kennedy writes, "i don't like to talk. every time i go somewhere with a friend they always expect me to talk to them. i like to sit quietly. when i watch a movie or read a poem i don't like to discuss it with anyone. i like to watch movies and then maybe sleep. no talking. occasionally i watch the same movie over and over again until i fall asleep. i prefer watching movies alone. i prefer reading alone. i prefer eating alone. i prefer walking alone. i prefer listening to music alone. i prefer singing alone. i prefer swimming alone. i prefer to eat small children alone. i like it when sean reads me poetry but i just like to listen quietly and not comment afterwards. sometimes i feel this makes him uncomfortable."

This reminds me of how I'm alone right now, will walk around school alone, go home to read alone, listen to music alone, and fall asleep alone tonight.

From Kennedy, "'i want to rub my face in my blueberries'"

The other I was at work. And this server found an ant. She starting yelling, "There's and ant, there's an ant. This is a restaurant." I said, "Who cares, ants are edible." I got the urge to take the ant and eat it. But realized that would be a bit too intense for everyone and they already think I'm nuts and I better calm down with my impulses.

From Kennedy

i have no ambitions

i don't want to hate the president

i don't want to go to harvard

i don't want to win the pulitzer prize

i just want to sit in my bathtub

and think about relationships i will never have

with people i will never meet

and then go lay in my bed

with a magnifying glass

and count all the stiches in my sheets

until i fall asleep

and wake up

to repeat again.

Last night I saw Bablyon Anno Domini and Vin Diesel got blown up and was later revived and turned into a robot type creature.

From Kennedy, "“Do you want to go to the bathroom with me?”

I really like that line. It is really nice to go to the bathroom with somebody. You both are sitting in there watching the other one pee. Maybe even fart or shit. It is always really funny. And friendly too. It is really friendly to go to the bathroom with somebody. I never understood why in public we can't go to the bathroom with our lovers. Why must we separate to go to the bathroom. I don't like that.

Here is the rest of that poem

From Kennedy, a poem about working in a laundromat

Here's my favorite line, "I won't have any co-workers!"

Sometimes at work they let me do this thing called, "salads." Which consists of me standing alone not talking to anyone, no one talking to me, making salads. Sometimes I go in the back and put silverware in little plastic things to be washed and rolled. No one talks to me, I'm making money, the salads are fun to make, and life is really good.

Ellen Kennedy is Socratic in her thinking, she takes on theory of Socrates, " "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Kennedy examines her life, she sees it for what it is. She doesn't turn it into something it isn't. And because of that, she can write things that can anyone can relate, take and make their own.