excerpt from:
Bylines
2005 Writer’s Desk Companion
Pat Gallant
Bylines
Who knows why I have an affinity for elephants. Maybe it’s their incredibly long gestation period or their chunky, adorable babies. Maybe it’s the poignancy of their burial grounds, or their reputation for having excellent memories. Maybe it’s because they’re not afraid to show their vulnerability and fear of small creatures. As a writer of literary nonfiction, I can identify. When pregnant with idea, the gestation can be long and the labor arduous. I must allow for fear and vulnerability. I must let memories wind their way to the surface and re-experience events. I might have to pay a mental visit to a burial ground or a time of great joy. I might go back in time to moments of safety and comfort–only to recognize that those are times past.
When that work is at last born, I am like a proud new mother. I look in awe at my new arrival. I touch it. I marvel at it. Doesn’t matter what anyone thinks–this is my baby and he, she, it, they are all beautiful–and nobody dare say different.
With each new ‘baby,’ I have given both birth and re-birth. I have honored burial ground. I have once again been able to touch those gone, if but for a moment. I have given thanks. I have resurrected the dead through the written word.