And I’m not a perfect man
This story was published in Medium’s The Challenged.
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Call me Paul.
It doesn’t have the same flawless cadence as “Call me Ismael,” does it? Herman Melville followed that first sentence with 209,114 more words about following a whale.
I’ll be satisfied with 200 on Rodrigo S-C’s October 7 prompt on perfectionism.
Speaking of Rodrigo, what would a professional photographer say about my attempt to capture the essence of my coffee mug in the photo that leads the story?
By the way, I loved that misshaped mug the first time I saw it.
An irregular shape
With two blue paint splotches
And the pentagon-shaped bottom that collects coffee and tea stains.
It reminds me of you. And me.
We’re all works in progress, aren’t we, with a smear here and a crack there?
Would a pure writer need Grammarly to help him decide whether the previous sentence required a ‘?’ I’m still not sure!
Knowing their limitations, the not-so-successful Scottish duo Steelers Wheel1972 song Stuck in the Middle honed in on this little bit of folk wisdom:
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.
Isn’t that perfect? We’re all either clowns or jokers or stuck between the two.
Doomed to coming up short.
That’s why I love my mug.
It’s beautiful despite its flaws, perhaps because of its flaws.
Mr. Headline analyzer says my title has no pizazz.
Perfect.
