{"id":148430,"date":"2020-10-15T13:00:51","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T17:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=148430"},"modified":"2020-10-15T13:31:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T17:31:33","slug":"the-view-where-i-write","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/","title":{"rendered":"The View Where I Write"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read John Lee Clark\u2019s poem \u201cLine of Descent\u201d in our Fall issue.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Vladimir Nabokov wrote standing up, scribbling on index cards while snacking on molasses. Lucille Clifton said that she wrote such short poems because that\u2019s how long she could hustle during her children\u2019s naps. Truman Capote famously described himself as a \u201ccompletely horizontal author,\u201d writing longhand in bed or on a couch, with cigarettes and coffee handy. Maya Angelou often rented a room at a nearby hotel, by the month, and had the staff take out the paintings and any bric-a-brac. Charles Dickens liked changing venues but required that his traveling desk and the same ornaments be arranged just so. Agatha Christie puzzled out her murder stories in the bathtub while munching on apples. Victor Hugo abolished distractions by locking himself in a room without any clothes, for fear they would tempt him to go out. What he did permit himself was what many writers have: a view.<\/p>\n

I am no different. Where I write, on the twenty-fifth floor of an apartment building in downtown Saint Paul, I possess a most breathtaking view. Directly below me is a thick circular grove of\u2014what shall I say?\u2014soft-branched willow trees. A short distance due west lies a pond in the shape of a bear claw. I can see the reeds at its bottom and the cattails dancing around it. Due east across a field of tall grass, warm sunlight bathes over a series of clumps\u2014perhaps houses?\u2014and a long knoll crammed with fuzzy flowers.<\/p>\n

I never tire of tracking the snaking strip of beach that frames my vista. To the far west is a cape, the northeast a bay, and farther east swells out a peninsula. Strangely, there are no boats. Neither are there any cars. Not as far as I am able to observe, at any rate.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My sighted friends tell me that the panorama outside my home office windows is wonderful. I smile politely. Once they\u2019ve left I hurry to my desk, which faces a wall, to write and delight in the real landscape\u2014the rug under my desk. As my fingers begin pounding away at the keys or surfing the dots of my Braille display, my feet go a-roving. The rug is unlike any other. A dear friend, the artist and philosopher Erin Manning, made it using different patterns, shapes, and fibers. She employed varying thicknesses and lengths, ranging from tall tufts to the untufted woven base of the rug.<\/p>\n

A topological marvel, the rug\u2019s outline is map-like and the intentional hole is a revelation. My right heel often nestles in the circular grove, while any number of my left toes may be taking a dip in the hole. The rug is the beginning of a new world. We in the Protactile movement have been laying foundations dealing with the most basic human requirements\u2014language, co-presence, space, navigation, and even art\u2014but little did I know how much decoration could offer.<\/p>\n

So much out there in the world, and here in my home, is tactilely monotonous. Floors, walls, surfaces\u2014all tyrannies of uniform texture. It turns out that our mental health demands forests, mountains, valleys, flowers, animals, waterfalls, and crashing waves! Be it a rug that\u2019s also a work of art or cheapo, freebie swag, we need to populate our environments. We need a mess, a storm, a cacophony.<\/p>\n

I regret to say that I am, deep down, a selfish man. I won\u2019t share my view! But even deeper down burns my love for our future. Thankfully, Erin made two<\/em> rugs for me. The other, bigger, even more specular view hangs on a wall, to receive our hands or shoulders or cheeks or noses or lips as we pass by or, frequently, stop. It is easy to take down should friends desire to have our feet discover its wonders while we converse, or to drape it over our laps for us to gaze upon it together, whispering and exclaiming, with our hands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read John Lee Clark\u2019s poetry in our archives<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

John Lee Clark is a National Magazine Award\u2013winning writer based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. A member of the inaugural class of Disability Futures Fellows, he is at work on his debut collection of poems and second collection of essays.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My sighted friends tell me that the panorama outside my home office windows is wonderful. I smile politely. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2064,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[67827],"class_list":["post-148430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe View Where I Write by John Lee Clark<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My sighted friends tell me that the panorama outside my home office windows is wonderful. I smile politely.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The View Where I Write by John Lee Clark\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 15, 2020 \u2013 My sighted friends tell me that the panorama outside my home office windows is wonderful. I smile politely.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-15T17:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-15T17:31:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830-1024x961.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"961\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Lee Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Lee Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Lee Clark\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bf7750ac88a213817e7118cccfd09381\"},\"headline\":\"The View Where I Write\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-15T17:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-15T17:31:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/\"},\"wordCount\":729,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830-1024x961.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Featured\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts & Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/\",\"name\":\"The View Where I Write by John Lee Clark\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830-1024x961.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-15T17:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-15T17:31:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"My sighted friends tell me that the panorama outside my home office windows is wonderful. I smile politely.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830.jpeg\",\"width\":5233,\"height\":4912,\"caption\":\"Wooden workshop table against concrete wall.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The View Where I Write\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bf7750ac88a213817e7118cccfd09381\",\"name\":\"John Lee Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9fdf07f8d2ee912fd27e264824f780951dd1f9a030ce5c7e87176514e21a7b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9fdf07f8d2ee912fd27e264824f780951dd1f9a030ce5c7e87176514e21a7b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Lee Clark\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jlclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The View Where I Write by John Lee Clark","description":"My sighted friends tell me that the panorama outside my home office windows is wonderful. I smile politely.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The View Where I Write by John Lee Clark","og_description":"October 15, 2020 \u2013 My sighted friends tell me that the panorama outside my home office windows is wonderful. I smile politely.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2020-10-15T17:00:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-10-15T17:31:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":961,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830-1024x961.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Lee Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Lee Clark","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/"},"author":{"name":"John Lee Clark","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bf7750ac88a213817e7118cccfd09381"},"headline":"The View Where I Write","datePublished":"2020-10-15T17:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-15T17:31:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/"},"wordCount":729,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830-1024x961.jpeg","keywords":["Featured"],"articleSection":["Arts & Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/","name":"The View Where I Write by John Lee Clark","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830-1024x961.jpeg","datePublished":"2020-10-15T17:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2020-10-15T17:31:33+00:00","description":"My sighted friends tell me that the panorama outside my home office windows is wonderful. I smile politely.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/adobestock_158562830.jpeg","width":5233,"height":4912,"caption":"Wooden workshop table against concrete wall."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2020\/10\/15\/the-view-where-i-write\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The View Where I Write"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bf7750ac88a213817e7118cccfd09381","name":"John Lee Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9fdf07f8d2ee912fd27e264824f780951dd1f9a030ce5c7e87176514e21a7b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c9fdf07f8d2ee912fd27e264824f780951dd1f9a030ce5c7e87176514e21a7b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Lee Clark"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jlclark\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2064"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148430"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148438,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148430\/revisions\/148438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}