I get off on anticipating and waiting much more than I get off on the actual event.
John Edgar WidemanKids use words in ways that release hidden meanings, revel the history buried in sounds. They haven't forgotten that words can be more than signs, that words have magic, the power to be things, to point to themselves and materialize. With their back-formations, archaisms, their tendency to play the music in words--rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, repetition--children peel the skin from language. Words become incantatory. Open Sesame. Abracadabra. Perhaps a child will remember the word and will bring the walls tumbling down.
John Edgar WidemanEven in my adult years, when I heard a white person speaking in a Southern accent I was initially suspicious.
John Edgar WidemanIf I had only a negative side of things to present, I think I would have much less of a drive to do it. Because what would be the point?
John Edgar WidemanWhen you're at the basketball court watching a game, one person may be talking about a fight he had with his wife, another is talking about the last hard-on he got, someone else is talking about the presidential election. The language and the tone and the voice - I'd love to be able to capture that spontaneity.
John Edgar Wideman