Sometimes a word sticks in my head, like serendipity, or curious, or verisimilitude and actually that word catches this post for me. Overtime is a positive sounding word that says what it means, at least usually. It means extended working hours and time in excess of a set period, and yet what happens when it is actually used to deal with time cut short; and when it has only the semblance of being true? In this case, it only seems true because in the hands of a real wordsmith it is amazing how a single word can be stretched to the limits of its meaning. And I try to tell my students this, and I ask them, why use that word when another is better, or try thinking about it in a different way, see how it can be stretched and turned; and the limits of meaning can seem both true and real and yet not, all at the same time. I love such language games and this post is indeed about "overtime" but referring to "time cut short" because of the verisimilitude of the lyrics - and well, I adore this song, for no one does the hall of pain better then Lucinda Williams. This is not me, I am not in that space, I am just the water carrier, admiring a master wordsmith work the anvil - of course she cheats a bit, its really two words, but hey, she's a writer, she is allowed - wallow and swallow that lump in yout throat:
Overtime
That's what they all tell me
That's what they say to me
Overtime
Your blue eyes, your black eyelashes
The way you looked at life
In your funny way
I guess out of the blue
You won't cross my mind
And I'll get over you
Overtime
Your pale skin, your sexy crooked teeth
The trouble you'd get in
In your clumsy way
I guess one afternoon
You won't cross my mind
And I'll get over you
Overtime
