Richard's Free Writing

Since people seem to be sending around favorite poems. I have written a poem into my computer to return to the poetry senders. I think this is a good poem because I can't read it outloud without my voice breaking...this is because when I read it to Bill he wiped a tear from his eye and said, "Why haven't you read that poem to me before?"

Here's the poem by Richard Shelton:

Letter to a Dead Father

Five years since you died and I am
better than I was when you were living
The years have not been wasted.
I have heard the harsh voices
of desert birds who cannot sing.
Sometimes I touch the membrane
between violence and desire
and watch it vibrate.
I learned that a man
who travels in circles
never arrives at exactly the same place.

If you could see me now
side-stepping triumph and disaster,
still waiting for you to say my son
my beloved son. If you could only see
me now, you would know I am stronger.

Death was the poorest subterfuge
you ever managed, but it was permanent.
Do you see now that fathers
who cannot love their sons
have sons who cannot love?
It was not your fault
and it was not mine. I needed
your love, but I recovered without it.
Now I no longer need anything.

I took a workshop from him once. He claims to have taught a poetry class in the Arizona Prisons that was so successful that none of his graduates ever went back to jail again. I don't know if they were that transformed or that scared of having to do another poetry seminar.

The exercise goes like this: You set your timer for fifteen minutes. Then you start free writing. It is considered better if you turn down the contrast on you screen so you can't see what you have written. It is considered obligatory to switch the subject if you find yourself writing a story or getting on your soap box. The idea is to get down into that level of your mind that nestles between the conscious and the dreaming mind. In theory it cannot write a cliché. (Want to bet? Mine writes in iambic pentameter and nothing but clichés.) When the timer rings, or maybe the next day, you sift through all the stuff you have written, pick out the lines that interest you and you will find that you have a theme. In theory the idea your sub conscious would like to bring to your attention. If nothing else it would be a good exercise in looking at each single line.