Thursday, October 13, 2011

Shadow Writing

Ladies and (possibly) gentleman, I have done it again. I have written a poem that I'd quite like to share. This is somewhat nerve-wracking and I am begining to think it would be interesting to take part in a poetry workshop, as I can see plenty of room for improvement in my poems, but can't find the way forward myself. Have any of you done anything like that?

Shadow Writing

Here in the early morning sun,
Writing in prayer journals and morning pages,

My shadow follows my pencil, meeting the paper just where my pencil leaves its mark.

Who is leaving the mark,

My shadow or me?

Who is directing, and who is following,

My shadow, or me?

Is my shadow the anxious, thoughtless, must-get-on, must-cope, mustn’t-think-about-it self
Who tumbled through this life in the sunshine,
Spreading little streaks of darkness
Where before there had been light?

If it is, I want to be the writer,
Conscious and aware of all the good,
Soaking in the light and beauty of this day,
This place,
These people,
This life.

I want to be the leader, and my shadow the follower.

I want to turn to the sun and leave my shadow to follow behind.

My life is with the sun, not in the shadow.

7 comments:

Tina said...

This is so beautiful, Floss. Specially the last line.
Very inspiring!
xx

Jackie said...

It's a lovely poem Floss ~ I'm so glad you decided to share it with us :O)x

French Nanny said...

Me too!

Elizabethd said...

Beautiful use of words and images, Floss. Go do a writing workshop now.

Sherri B. said...

I love this style of poetry, you do a very nice job of it. I really like the ending and it all makes sense.

Jane and Chris said...

I was terribly impressed!
Jane x

Sue said...

Totally agree with the comments already said. I have never taken one of these workshops, but working with Uni students, at one time I was in the creative writing class, and they all seemed to enjoy it very much. Helpful too to bounce ideas off each other and discuss different ideas.