Comments on: Thomas Sullivan: EMPTY BOXES I HAVE WORN

By: Fiction Writing with Storytellersunplugged | Thomas Sullivan: DO STUCK PIGS SWEAT, NEGOTIATING ROMANCE, AND THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:17:55 +0000

[...] one of my Cannibal Essays. I believe the last Cannibal Essay I did was Empty Boxes I Have Worn http://www.storytellersunplugged.com/thomas-sullivan-empty-boxes-i-have-worn, the idea being that a meaningful life shapes meaningful stories every day and that a writer must [...]

By: THOMAS SULLIVAN: XANADU AND WALLS OF MIST | Storytellersunplugged

THOMAS SULLIVAN: XANADU AND WALLS OF MIST | Storytellersunplugged — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 15:24:48 +0000

[...] SQUIRREL; 12-16-06 THOMAS SULLIVAN: KHAKI MAN & THE PEANUT BUTTER PLAYERS; and 01-16-07 THOMAS SULLIVAN: EMPTY BOXES I HAVE WORN. The subject this time is as nebulous as dreams. In fact, it is dreams. Real, middle-of-the-night, [...]

By: Storytellersunplugged » THOMAS SULLIVAN: COMPETITION AND OTHER WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:00:26 +0000

[...] from the world. You remember the Lawndale Hotel, don’t you? This link will take you there SU 01-16-07» THOMAS SULLIVAN: EMPTY BOXES I HAVE WORN. That was when, little more than a kid myself, I was wearing paperclips for shoelaces and driving a [...]

By: Sully

Sully — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 16:38:00 +0000

I've got to quit going to bed -- missing all these kind things by early risers.

Kelly: It's astonishing the number of people who came back at me with a similar story yesterday, as you just did. That's most informative to me. About life, about the world. Thanks for that and the generous words.

AJB: There is more than a little music in your own narrative style, Adam. I'll bet your characterizations sing. Thanks.

Mark: Well...ah, early riser -- no, no, I see you posted around 10 a.m. But that's early for me lately. You often offer summaries and closures, a la Ben Franklin. I keep coming back to columns to see if Mark weighed in. Good to hear from you and thanks.

-- Sully (Thomas Sullivan)

By: Mark Rainey

Mark Rainey — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:01:00 +0000

Sully — Damn, man. Fantastic words, these.

Deliberate numbness… you struck a nerve with me there. (Happily, I might add.) What incredible visions of that time gone by. You know how to make one -feel.-

–M

By: AJB

AJB — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:17:00 +0000

Sitting in the living room yesterday afternoon, having just read this essay, when through the door walks my mother. Being the insatiably curious type, she starts reading over my shoulder.

"Why was he wearing boxes?" says she.

"He wasn't," says I "it's figurative, not literal."

"Oh, right," she says "what's it about then?"

"..." How do you answer that?

A soul stripped away and lain bare for all to see?

Truth and honesty and epiphany-inducing insight and the brutal beauty that's evident if you only care to look?

Inspiration incarnate?

I'm afraid the meagre words I could conjure wouldn't--couldn't--have come close to a sufficient answer to that innocuously profound question.

So what did I say?

"You'll just have to read it."

Best I could manage at the time, I'm afraid.

But thank you Sully, you know, to fall back on that old cliché, for being you.

By: Kelly Kane

Kelly Kane — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 11:14:00 +0000

Dear Sully:
I cannot lose the lump in my throat. Just yesterday I was confronted by a secret room mate of my own that I must have stashed in the back closet — a self-confidence breakdown of mammoth proportions. I was incredulous and then indignant about this intrusion until I read your story. Now I think I might possibly be able to do something about it. There but for me go I.
Oh dear the lump in my throat just gave way to some tears. Thanks.
Kelly

By: Sully

Sully — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:22:00 +0000

You care…enough to write even when your jet-lagged. I’ll sleep on that. Thanks.

– Sully (Thomas Sullivan)

By: AllyBird

AllyBird — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:37:00 +0000

I’m jet lagged from flying back to England after New Zealand and Hong Kng and you made me cry and just when I thought nobody really cared about anyone anymore. Thanks for that Sully! I’ll get back to writing now.

By: Sully

Sully — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 06:25:00 +0000

Thanks, George. Hope that pasta was good over on Shocklines!

– Sully (Thomas Sullivan)