I like everything about Open Salon, from the look of it: the format, the whiteness of the page, the blue and black band across the top I can personalize, to the people who publish here.  This is my page within the OS format.  My appearance is contained:

I'm an Open Salon member among other Open Salon members.  Hey hey! 

I'm proud to be a writer/blogger/poet on Open Salon.  I enjoy seeing my words on such a well put together site and seeing my monkey nom de plume right up top.    My page!   I hope one day I'll create something so extraordinary, I'll make the pages of Big Salon.   If that were to ever happen I'd have to put my real name to it because I would be too proud not to.   

I write here because I enjoy being a part of the mix and being dazzled by the knowledge, wit, proficiency, artistry, caliber and heart that is routinely shared in this space for no reward other than personal.   In the shadow of your excellence, I aspire to my own! 

Would I continue writing if you didn't read me?  Sometimes I work for hours, days, composing and editing and rewriting and then, after I publish I continue, rewriting for hours, going back days sometimes months later, quite aware most people don't care/aren't aware of all this mad crafting and fussing and fancy tapdancing and homeric effort.  But I want what I offer to be worthwhile.  I want you to think, "hey that was good!"

I write knowing full well what I create is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea and yet I continue because WRITING IT HAS BECOME MINE - my cup of delicious, addictive, delightful tea.   

I don't deny I love the comments, the criticisms and the encouragements.  And even when I haven't inspired much feedback, I push because I genuinely enjoy the act of writing.   

I also come here because I have learned to care for many of you, but that has taken nearly two years of being a member.  There are periods I read your blogs obsessively, sometimes neither commenting nor contacting.  

I'm a solitary person and some of you know this and accept this flaw of mine and for this I'm very grateful.

There are times I absent myself and do what I must to live life in the real world and living and experiencing life takes time.   You might be able to conjure this up out of your mind but I need to live and bounce around to conjure mine.  

Just know though, that I'm always writing for me and for you in the back of my mind now...

I think about words, and turn them around in poetry or prose or snippets or compositions that come and go in fits and fashion.  

Always I am grateful for a place where I can come and share what I eventually must share.  

And always I am grateful to you, dear reader for being here to read it.  

(I gotta get outta here so let me add this...please...take this OPEN CALL and run with it.  Talk about creativity and writing and writing here and whatever else you get from it.....

I thought in view of some of the evil happenings this week (and I'm no slouch in that dept) that sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the joy and purpose of OS, that something that drew us here in such a compelling way in the first place.  And keeps us here!  The joy of jumping in, joining the feed and creating, sharing our dreams and our visions. Lumping ourselves with others like us.    

And yeah creativity, like The Force, always has that Dark Side.  and O yeah, the Dark Side is so much fucking fun.  Especially in a place like this where everyone is so goddamned clever and wicked when the mojo gets working.

But there's the good side, and the good side is this venue, this place where we can come and share our vision.  So I thought I'd like to talk about that.)

 
 monkey out.  shit I GOTTA get outta here.  see you later, alligator!