My friend Jon Neske is a poet. Well, he's my husband's pal so I guess he's my friend-in-law? Anyway, the guy knows his way around the language and isn't afraid to share it. He's also very fast with his wit.
Yesterday morning I was lying in bed willing myself to get going on my (ill-fated) 22-miler when I Tweeted thusly:
Webster's needs a word for the anxiety/dread/anticipation/excitement one feels before a long run. Perhaps they already do? #bipolarrun
Jon commented (on FB, cuz my Tweets go both places): Antixiousdreadament. I made it up just for you. Anti- from anticipation/ xious from the latin root of anxiety/ draed from the OE root of dread / ament from excitement. Really, though, this is why we have poetry to say these things we don't have words for.
Super clever, right? I thought so, too. Even more amazing was the message I got almost simultaneously:
What wonderful joy this wall
I have to smash through
before my first step
The road swallows me up with my
own stomach before I even approach it.
I will pound my inside-out
back into me with my feet
after the start
but until then, O!
this exquisite dread.
What wonderful joy this wall
I have to smash through
before my first step
The road swallows me up with my
own stomach before I even approach it.
I will pound my inside-out
back into me with my feet
after the start
but until then, O!
this exquisite dread.
(Posted with permission, of course! Thanks, Jon!)
