I came to The Cool Pad to take some pictures tonight of certain things for a story I wanted to write.
I’m gonna write a letter to Dad. He was an amazing letter writer to friends and fans and such. So in tribute I thought I’d write one too, but I looked down and saw his boots. Damn. These boots…
I’m hanging in his pad and smoking cigarettes and drinking a beer. I’m sitting in his chair he wrote in and I drift, looking across all the pictures on the wall. I see love all over these walls. I see pictures of best friends, family, accomplishments, heroes, me, music geniuses, phone numbers of Hollywood and Texas musicians. I’m calm. I’m relaxed and feeling lucky.
I pick up a paper book called “A Late Start” and it’s by Larry Brown. What is this? I read it, then I cry a bit.
The book was a speech he read in Chattanooga, Tennessee in April of 1989. He told a crowd about what he liked to write about and that he was ashamed he got such a late start. He told them he liked writing about north Mississippi and its characters. It was people he knew. He talked about his heart of the matter, how he wrote out of experience and imagination toward blind faith and love. Damn it, Daddy…
I keep reading. It’s what he always told me to do. I can remember him reading two books at once and writing a novel. It’d blow my mind. I’d see Mom reading all the time too when she wasn’t washing clothes, cooking and cleaning.
He said in his speech he always had plenty to write about. It was mainly his experience of life. The “shit jobs” that he did. The fire department carried him, but he wanted more. He figured it out and did it.
And then I see one of the last segments of his speech about “The Proposition of Writing.” His words teach me and answer my questions. He had no clue either. He became somebody because of a want. He outworked himself.
I read his idols and, of course, I read his writings any chance I get. I want this too. But I know I can’t fill those boots. I’ve told myself this for a long time. I’ll keep his spirit in me and his work flow. Maybe I’ll end up like his last part of the speech if I work hard enough and read.
The last part was about his first publication from a magazine and being discovered by Shannon… and then he worked harder.
These boots…
Shane Brown is a HottyToddy.com contributor and the son of noted author Larry Brown. Shane is an Oxford native with Yocona and Tula roots. Shane is a graduate of Mississippi State University. He has two children — Maddux, age 9, and Rilee, age 7 — and makes his home at “A Place Called Tula.” He can be reached at msushanebrown@yahoo.com.
Copyright Shane Brown, 2015.
