Vowel Movement

When a writer lacks verbs and nouns he's the victim of writer's block. His mind may house too many consonants, too few vowels. Without vowels, his consonants congeal and become a mass. The result is verbal constipation. The only cure, some doctors say, is a very big vowel movement, larger than a loaf of pumpernickel or a Seinfeld marble rye. Some writers, desperate for a very big vowel movement, try dynamite. Not good. Other writers tout Agent Orange, Monsanto's legacy in Vietnam dropped off half a century ago. But Agent Orange is not the answer for writer's block. It melts a writer slowly and melts as well generations of his descendants as it has for years In Vietnam where the great-grandchildren of innocent farmers whose crops were sprayed with Agent Orange are born deformed. They are the new lepers from Monsanto, not from Molokai. On the streets the children startle tourists from Boston and New York who are munching on delightful spring rolls dipped in lovely sauces at outdoor cafe tables under big umbrellas that ward off the burning noonday sun. Donal Mahoney