I’m on a never-ending quest for turnkey phrases—magical combinations of words that drive themselves relentlessly towards unique expressions of ideas and memories. Once assembled, they’ll propel themselves forward like an unstoppable freight train, hellbent on smashing writer’s block, becoming my guiding light into the elusive territory of original expression.
Every time I think I’ve found one of these elusive phrases, I can’t help but feel like I’ve just cracked the code to something special. Of course, more often than not, they fizzle out and fade into the obscurity of my digital archive. Yet, I persist, chasing these particular alignments of words that’ll serve as constellations to be a compass for my chaotic spirit.
Yes, it can be perilous to grapple with the unpredictable nature of raw expression. But that’s where the good stuff tends to hide away. On those dusty, moldy shelves in the dark corners of my mind, forgotten thoughts fester like books nobody checked out of the library since the early 90’s. I must clear that shelf, haul down every forgotten volume, dust it off, and start shouting its contents into the void.
If the words won’t do it alone, I’ll somehow set them to music. Take all your most intimate musings—everything you swore you’d never share—and slap a tune behind it. If you’re lucky, you can trick people into caring that way. Suddenly, the once deeply personal becomes something people can jam to at any time they please. They might not even realize they’re singing along to your deepest, darkest musings.
In that vein, I always thought my teenage poetry—bad as it was—would one day blossom into something timeless, haunting lyrics that future generations would study and marvel over. Yeah, I’ve always been over-ambitious. Yet, even now, as I cobble together words that feel soulful, I wonder: will anyone ever get what I’m trying to say? Will even the fringe audience I manage to acquire just hum along without a second thought, content with a toe-tapping distraction for them to vibe with at their leisure?
Somewhere in my garbled mess of metaphors, I hope someone out there will stop and go, “Ah, yes, I get it.” As for the rest, well, they’ll at least get a catchy chorus to keep them entertained. But I have to say, I don’t create this art just for art’s sake. For me, it’s my heart and soul, torn out and flung onto the page. I’m practically begging the audience to look inside themselves, to realize there’s more lurking in their depths than they ever dared believe.
So, for me, every verse and essay I write has a deeper meaning. Deep secrets are hidden between the lines. and they’re there for the taking if people care to notice. Eventually, I’ll stumble on the turnkey phrases that will get people to listen to this and all these other things that I’ve learned. Plenty of modern-day pop and rock stars have found more than fair share. Now it’s up to this absurdly prolific essayist and verse scribbler to do the same.
~ Amelia Desertsong
Hello, Amelia. I recognize myself in what you’ve written here. I was hoping to seeing an example or two of turnkey phrases you have captured. Absent that, I simply wanted to share that, “yes, I get it.” I am a big fan of putting music to slideshows that, when combined just right, adds emphasis to both. Thank you for writing about what tickles your fancy.
The funny thing is, John, I’m not sure I’ve just yet found any absolute bangers of “turnkey phrases” that I feel proud to highlight. I think that I probably have amassed a great many phrases that come close, but that one definitive hook that will be remembered for all time, like “best of times… worst of times”, I don’t think I have any of those just yet.