Writing

Within everything that is written
there is more than is written.
That "more" is contained within
the reader. Should I be reading
complex works by authors like
Thomas Pynchon, Vladimir Nabokov
or James Joyce and spend years
filling my head with their symbolism
and unraveling their codes? Or
should I just read it for the
enjoyment that I can skim from
the surface of their works?

I think about this shit sometimes.
Once I met a woman from Hawaii who
wrote poems. Within her poems were
references to local places and
happenings that only she and a handfull
of people would understand. Had a
discussion with her about whether
writing should strive to be as universal
as possible, or just ignore the general
reader. It was a discussion that had
no outcome. Of course nothing can be
universal, but we want to communicate.
I suppose we have in mind something about
who we want to communicate with. Otherwise
we're just talking to ourselves or
ghosts like the insane person on the
street corner shouting at the breeze
kicked up by passing cars.