I Have Learned

I prefer the saddle

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I prefer the saddle to the streetcar and star-sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult trail, leading into the unknown, to any paved highway, and the deep peace of the wild to the discontent bred by cities. Do you blame me then for staying here, where I feel that I belong and am … Read more

I like to listen.

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I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen. Ernest Hemingway

I have learned as

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I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have from reading novels. The understatements in the tenor saxophone of Lester Young, the crystal, haunting, forever searching sounds of John Coltrane, and the softness and violence of Count Basie’s big band – all have … Read more