collecting the scatterings

It always starts with good intentions, doesn't it?

An idea! And sometimes, that idea leads to another and another, in a direct line. That's how writing starts.

I have issues with attention and focus. I tend to think in twenty different directions at once, which is not helped by the nature of modern life. 

Additionally, I have issues with memory. If I don't do something straightaway, I have a tendency to forget about it. 

Additionally additionally, I have issues with executive functioning. For someone who has issues with attention, focus, and memory, there are certain ways to compensate for these issues, which I seem not to do because this time I'll remember, and ooh, what's that shiny thing over there ...!

I had an idea last week (I think it was last week --memory and all that ...) that I think is a good one. Last week, I also came across a publisher seeking experimental poetry written in classic forms. I thought I would try to combine the two.

Every idea has a form of writing that will work to enhance what it is. I had a great experience with this over the summer when an idea I had coincided with a request for 1-2 character plays. Let's just say, this new idea does not interact well with experimental poetry written in classic forms. I tried it. It doesn't --not at all.

So this blog post is to collect the scatterings of that idea in prose. Maybe it was only meant to be an outline? Maybe I'll do something with it later. Maybe I won't.

The idea was this: it centers around the lamassus in what is now Iraq, but was Assyrian when they were created. They are enormous figures with the head of a bearded man and the body of either a bull or lion and a bird of some sort.

I read an article in the Smithsonian magazine on an archaeologist in Mosul and lamassus played a part in the article. This is what inspired the idea in the first place. Prior to that, I had no idea what these things were called.

Back around the turn of the 19th/20th Century, archaeologists from Europe were busy excavating historical artifacts in the area, the most famous of whom was Max Mallowan (Mr. Agatha Christie, who also spent time here). They performed their excavations and shipped their discoveries off to Europe, ostensibly for safe keeping from the locals or perhaps from the elements or anyhow from people who didn't appreciate them in exactly the right way. You can now see the lamassus in museums like the Louvre and the British Museum --where I saw them many years ago, but I didn't realize what they were. 

One interesting piece of trivia about these lamassus is that their original purpose was to protect the area (specifically the palace,  I believe, but I'm no expert). So European archaeologists removed them and sent them to Europe. If one were superstitious, one would wonder whether the protection of the lamassus was removed along with them ...

Flash forward to now and the article about the Iraqi archaeologist in Mosul. The area was captured by ISIS for a period of time and has now been recaptured but just. The lamassus that were still located in the area were targeted by ISIS during their occupation in the same way the Buddha in Afghanistan had been by Al-Qaeda, and for the same reason.

My idea, which I still can't fully wrap my head around, is this: did the original archaeologists do the area a disservice by removing the statues in the first place, thus leaving the area unprotected; or did their actions end up saving the ones that were removed preemptively; or ...? The area did end up overrun by people who did not appreciate the lamassus, to put it mildly. However, the removal of the lamassus in the first place was cultural imperialism ("You couldn't possibly know how to take care of these the right way. Here, let us get that for you. There, there ..."), and it is an Iraqi who is risking her life to account for the remaining artifacts and protect them as best she can. The lamassus make excellent representative symbols of a lot of questions I have about the world.

And when you throw in me, an American woman, writing about the whole thing in a Western poetic form (cultural appropriation, anyone?), it gets very confusing. And bad --trust me, the poem was bad.

So I'll just leave it as a blog post about the idea that got away. Writers don't use all of their ideas --or they shouldn't, at least not all at once, I don't think. Maybe I'll find the right form at some point to ponder the questions I have. Maybe I won't. At least now my scatterings are collected somewhere, and I can look at them again if and when the time comes.

Good luck with your writing, too. Good luck collecting your scatterings that don't quite add up, and good luck with maybe finding their proper form in the future. They can't all be winners, but it doesn't mean they're bad.