Listening to the spirit in others ~.Shadow writing ~

 

 

I call it Shadow Writing !

One of the strengths in writing is being a good observer. Over time I have learned what many already know. Just be there! At one point in my life I was going through a transition and visited a town in southwest Colorado. I went there to get away from my surroundings and try to make some sense out of my life. It was a painful time!

Visiting that town, Durango, became an almost weekly trek for me to just get away and regroup my thoughts for a new direction. Though my life had been reasonably successful in family and business, it was not what I wanted and my hope was to realize a new direction.  A new lease on life, so to speak.

I would check in one of the older hotels in town and then visit different places around the area. Sometimes I would sit in a local restaurant in the Strater Hotel or one of the many coffee shops in town. I did not know anyone in the town but gradually, over the weeks that I visited, some of the locals befriended me. I would sit and listen to there stories to see if they had some experience that would help in my quest. Though I had paper and pen to make notes for determining my so called direction of renewal there was little written down on paper. When I would write after talking to these people I found that what was flowing onto the paper was a roughly poetic picture of the people that I met.

These locals, strangers to me, were making a deep and moving affect. They were taking me out of self and showing me that life is about growth. Their stories seemed to reach to something deep within me and show the lessons those people endured. This is one of the satires that I call, Shadow Writing:

Agnes – My friend

A lady I know to be true above  all

Who listens and cares, around for the call

You help other people, It wasn’t your way

When starting your life, a long ago day

 The times were so hard, the people not true

You did for yourself and took your own due

A hurt piled on life day after day

Held to what’s yours and wiled life away

 Hurt that had grown to hate and resent

Brought a young girl to a certain lament

A day would come by to make the world change

You saw in yourself a life re-arranged

 The things that you had, all gone are they now

And all that is left is needed somehow

Blessed with a girl to raise in this life

The value of self to be taken from strife

 You learned the new ways and shared them with all

The life that you gained makes many stand tall

A tribute to you is knowing your heart

And seeing that god gives all a new start

Aprl 1986     Durango







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