box of Jack » Never Give Up

Gather round, kids, and indulge me while I recall this story.

In August 2005, I was reading a friend’s blog and he was getting comments from this guy called Johnny*. Weird comments that talked about the emotions evoked by the writing and little tidbits of happy constructive criticism. To be honest, I can’t really remember what he said but it was very creepy/friendly, like a hobo stroking your hair on the subway. I think my friend was wondering if he was genuine or just taking the piss.

And I, being an asshole, played along with Johnny. I engaged him in the comments section and joined in on the crazy. I even left a comment on his blog saying how I liked his emo, high school poetry (obviously, I didn’t use those words). In turn, he clicked over to my blog. I had comments off back in the day so he emailed me a poem! A poem that praised my writing! One to inspire me, nourish my soul and lift my heart in times of storm clouds!

I have run this poem by Deutlich and she told me, “My whole body is cringing right now.” I assume this is her natural response when she finds something really really cool.

From: [redacted]@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, 30 August 2005 8:52 AM
To: jack@boxofjack.com
Subject: never give up from johnny

yo its Johnny, I thank you for liking my poem so I write a poem for you for support i hope you like it

if jack would keep writing
the way he writes so free
you may never know
you might even be the best poet in history

for all the times you are troubled
my friend i will give you hope
so that you can succeed and inspire
until the last minute of your fire

if you knew one of the greatest poets is thee
you may even be the next prodigy
so if you give up or are stuck
read my message
it says never give up

P.S. This poem is totally copyright to the original author and you must ask his permission before you go publishing it in your poetry collections.

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18 comments »

	Deutlich MY EYES!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
	Ashley hands down, my favorite part of this poem was “so that you can succeed and inspire until the last minute of your fire” he sure does have a way with words. i would be a good chunk of money that he is one of the very same guys that appears on Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator”
	Ashley be = bet. i evidently have a way with words too
	nancypearlwannabe Oh, I do hope your Choose Your Own Blogventure entry is in poem form! That would be amazing.
	poodlegoose Um, no. That is too much. Do you ever read his message when you’re about to give up hope?
	Jack Deutlich: I think it’s great how you allow yourself to really FEEL the poetry. Ashley: It’s ok, I have a bad way with words too. When I first wrote the entry, it started with “Gather round kids and indulge me…” which would make me eligible to star in To Catch a Predator. Thankfully, I have added commas now. nancypearlwannabe: Oh I’m tempted to add a poem but I fear it would ruin your project. Maybe I could write one of the endings where the protagonist becames trapped under piles of painful teenage break-up poetry. poodlegoose: Sadly, I only found this poem recently whilst cleaning my inbox. I didn’t even remember the context until I saw the email discussion I was having with my best friend about how awful this poem was.
	xtina i wish i could get sweet poems like that. right now, i have this weird guy going back and reading all my old post and commenting on all of them.
	xtina whoops, i mean weird girl.
	distracted spunk Ah, how I needed a good laugh today. But seriously. Fire? Inspire? Did rhyming not go out back in elementary school when they introduced us to the Whitman?
	Jack xtina: Ooh yay a girl stalker. I’m sure when they eventually follow the links from your blog to my blog, they will read this comment and send you that poem you always wanted. ;) DS: Obviously you know nothing about prose. It’s cyclical! Rhyming is back in! I expect you to start blogging limericks now.
	Maxie I will bet you 20 bucks that kid uses his rhyming dictionary every day.
	V Poor kid. He has no idea… Also, was the copyright disclaimer really necessary?
	Jack Maxie: Ha! I’ve always wanted to own one of those. V: You’re right, the copyright disclaimer is unnecessary. In my defence, I wrote this entry at 4am.
	katelin Wow. Quite the writer, haha.
	Lachlan Hahaha I remember this! Poor guy was extremely downers :( I wonder what he’s doing with himself now…
	chris A prodigy!
	Damsel In Digress i’m dying from laughter. also, this may just be one of the most GENIUS analogies/metaphors/similes i’ve read in some time: like a hobo stroking your hair on the subway.
	jinius hilarious. and i agree with damsel. that analogy was genius. takes one to know one! ;-)

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