Day 2,735 —Ain’t Nobody that can Think Like You— with my PICTURE of a TOY and a SUITCASE

There is a song that Billy Bragg and Wilco perform, and Woody Guthrie wrote called “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key,” and the refrain that comes back to me is “There ain’t nobody that can sing like me.” When you add in the layer that the person singing isn’t the person who wrote it, the meaning changes again. Whose voice am I hearing? Is it Billy Bragg or Woody Guthrie? Or is that the wrong question to ask?  

Thinking about what “voice,” really is made me reflect on why I have gravitated towards writing. It has never been that writing has come easily to me, nor has my writing always been well received. I read one of my short stories I wrote in my early twenties yesterday, and I was shocked by my boldness and aggressiveness in my language. 

That was probably a huge turn off in retrospect for anyone who read it. I remember trying to develop a sense of anxiety for the reader by talking about familiar things using unconventional language. People really didn’t like it, and some seemed to take it personally. I don’t blame them. 

What do I expect when I purposely say things to challenge the way people think about things? 

It is kind of funny that I am surprised by the resistance I have encountered through the years. And when I think about my writing, and what I am really trying to accomplish. It is what I think Woody Guthrie was getting at. And how I can hear Guthrie’s voice through Billy Bragg. And I believe him that there ain’t nobody that can sing like him. However, I would suggest singing is the vehicle for him to communicate how he thinks, so ain’t nobody that can think like him instead. 

Nobody can think like you either, but we all have different ways we try to communicate our active imaginations. I write and take pictures. What about you?