It’s nearing, they say, the end of the world. I have no idea who ‘they’ are, but they’re quite convinced that it/us will end tomorrow, May 21. I beg to differ. I think we have a future ahead of us and even a bright one, we just have to look for it and make it work.

Lydia Davis - The Cows

Last Wednesday Lydia Davis was in Amsterdam. Wim Brands interviewed her and had her tell us where to look.
It’s right there, she said.
And she told us about the observations she makes at home or traveling; observations that form the source of her ultra short stories. When she looks out of the window and across the street from her home she sees green hilly pastures, a red barn and three cows. She has watched those three cows closely for years and wrote about them. She cut, shaped and polished her observations into 80 gems that are collected in ‘The Cows’. I have to read The Cows again and see if she, too, noticed the curtained windows in the barn.
When she’s traveling, Davis holds a notebook close at hand. She scribbles down observations on her fellow travelers in plane and train. It always amazes me that the ordinary changes into absurdity if you take a closer look at it. Like the shoeless feet of a woman comfortably resting on the seat opposite her. Looking closer Davis noticed that the feet were turned out at the oddest angle. Or the confident business man in his fancy suit, walking down the aisle. When he turned and walked up again, she noticed the shirt, untucked and grubby, the three-day stubble. And the confidence crumbled.

I was happy with Lydia Davis’ reminder to keep looking. Writers should! It’s no use sitting inside staring at the empty page. Now I only need to find a way to make it work and convey my observations as concise and sharp as she does. I still have a long way to go and that’s why I need a bright future and not the end of the world.