On Seaneen Molloy; Or, I Propose A Crown

I have loved very few women in my time. And few of those have deserved it. Fewer still have been Ms. Seaneen Molloy: writer, reader, and raconteur.

A diminutive figure, like the number 1, she is possessed of no little charm: partly Gertrude Stein, partly Dorothy Parker, partly infinite monkey stenographers. Much is made of her cheeks, round and clear, like those of a porcelain doll, but let us not forget she also has porcelain jugs, round and clear, like those a porcelain doll.

In the many years of our close acquaintance – from adolescent indiscretion through to dignified seniority – she has achieved much. She is the proud and celebrated author of The Secret Life Of A Manic Depressive , a blog, examining her experience of the titular ailment, that is beloved by numbers of thousands. In comparison, my The Disgusting Public Spectacle Of A Migraineur seems completely unhelpful. Facile, even.

She speaks eloquently on radio. She dazzles in public. Plays have been made about her life and these have received award upon award, because no system allows her to be decorated simply for existing.

To this close personal friend of many years, I feel no more than Ms. Harper Lee to her Truman Capote: the fussy recluse as to the glittering spirit of the age. And, though she has loved with some of the greatest and most good, there is part of her attention that seems always with her listener, her reader, with me. Unless she is distracted by a racing thought.

The wonderful woman has given and given. She has housed me; she has fed me; she has intoxicated me with her wit, her affections, and whatever was in that bottle she brought last Christmas. Late are the nights she has kept me awake with ingenious thought after inspired idea. All of which actions are above the obligations that even we, as life-long intimates, feel we must follow. What can I offer her in return? I do nought but house her, feed her, and intoxicate her with my wit, my affections, and more. In comparison, it seems like nothing.

Further to her many triumphs, she has recently proven herself as a stand-up comedian. This is quite something for a person with mood swings like hers, as some mornings she doesn’t feel like standing up at all.