Pardon Me

LBJ inquires about Jefferson's gravy, ca. 1967.

"Did you say you prefer 'artifice'?" LBJ asked.

I said, "Writers deal in artifice."

"I'd think you might prefer Truth," he said in that Texas drawl of his.

"Artifice is truer than truth," I said, "especially when you put it on the blank page: drawings, paintings, photos, videos, music, math, science, sculpture, blood, perhaps a sentence full of werds. A writer does what he must to get people to believe. In artifice. Then he starts all over. On a new blank page. That's the work."

"I see," LBJ said. "Would you pass me some of that gravy?"

So I did, and he seemed satisfied to pour it on thick and leave it at that.

True story.