A distinction of Mark.

   Shakespeare wrote in one play, "What's in a name?...I would deny my name.." In another play he wrote,

"Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls:
Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed.
William Shakespeare, "Othello", Act 3 scene 3


The Bible says, "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," Proverbs 22:1. Often a name indicates ones destiny.

   I was named Mark Andrew. It means manly warrior. Yet more often than not, I have been a peacemaker who avoids conflict. I know my flaws, yet the bible says, "Mark the perfect man...his end is peace" Ps 37:37. What mark(difference) can I mark(observe) in my life? Like the title of this post, I want to take a phrase like 'a mark of distinction' and make it 'a distinction of Mark'.

Am I a German mark, currrency to be spent like God's pocket change?
Am I a good mark, passing the test or is there red pen marks all over me?
Am I setting healthy boundaries as I mark the territory laid out for me?
Am I a beauty mark as the face of God to man or just a hairy mole?
Am I a tread mark that leaves a distinct impression behind?
Am I a skid mark that has backslidden from refusing to go forward?
Am I closed and mysterious and bent like a question mark?
Am I open and free and enthusiastic like an exclamation mark?
Am I focused on the target, trying to hit the mark?

I don't know. I'll just have mark my words and see if I can figure it out.

   

The first draft.

   Here it is. The first post of my first blog. Well, to be fair, my wife Esther and I did have a blog: "the Spurrill-Jones clan: keeping up with ourselves." It was a play on the 'keeping up with the Joneses' cliche. We apparently couldn't seeing as it is gathering dust in the archives of cyberspace. She now has two blogs of her own Esther Jones: I Just Live Here and The Spelling and Grammar Templar. It's flitted through my mind a time or two, "I should have my own blog." Then she told me she was going to start a writing challenge--31 poems in 31 days for October: OctPoWriMo. The problem is, I needed a blog to join the blog hop, so I started one. I will be posting a daily poem, as well as some other random thoughts and stories that come.

   I have always loved reading, writing, and telling stories. I love words and their shades of meaning. For example, this post title. 'The first draft'. In essays a draft is a practice writing that you keep tweaking until 'the final draft' which could be a metaphor for death. In construction you draft up plans using a professional draftsman. If you don't follow the plan to letter you'll find a cold draft finding you. In war a draft is an involuntary conscription from a list of names, like I've been roped into this contest. Yet in sports to be the first draft pick is a sought after prize. If you get it, you go for a draft beer delivered by a big draft horse. In banking a draft is a sort of cheque drawn against your wealth. I hope I don't bankrupt my creativity. Some  proper people think you're daft if you don't spell draft as draught as one aught(aft?) to. Finally, draft is the amount of wind in a ship's sails. So I'll cast off and see where this ship of fool gets me.