Writing Through Hard Times – March 2018
Each month, the Denver VOICE publishes a selection of writing from workshops sponsored by Lighthouse Writers Workshop. The Hard Times Writing Workshop is a collaboration between Denver Public Library and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. This workshop is open to all members of the public—especially those experiencing homelessness. Hard Times meets every Tuesday from 3-5 p.m. on the fourth floor of DPL’s Central branch. The Lighthouse sponsored workshop at The Gathering Place is specifically for that organization’s clients.
To check out more writing by the poets featured in this column, go to writedenver.org.
Freddy Bosco
Snow Lilly
While a companion and I dined,
feasting on Chinese delicacies
I noticed her. She looks to be
a refugee from school, a hostage
of immigration sentenced to drudgery.
I will call her Snow Lilly.
Pausing from my chop sticks,
I saw her go to the window.
She looked out longingly, as if
she could see a brighter tomorrow
for herself than steering a trolley
through a restaurant, dishing out dim sum.
The dim sum of her hope
left me sad to see her, one so lovely
with nothing on the wide horizon
but a life of the same old thing
served again and again.
Giuliana Brunner
Sacred Moments of Pause
She let her heart soul out into the crystal sparkles of the night—the fairies and others were not out yet to twirl and fly with—soooo her heart soul went up into the stars traveling along the connecting threads binding us all—knowing the language of souls—so far beyond the limitation of words, so far beyond the physical tangible
YOU know it perhaps?
Glimpsed it here on Earth? When you’ve touched another without skin meeting skin, without bodies melding into one another.
It can occur in total spirit with those you love and honor who’ve crossed over—solid, truthful, and real, when you pause to hear their message, to feel the radiance of their love. It can occur here on Earth, a momentary glance of connection with a total stranger, or with one you know and love.
Has that experience come to you yet? If not yet keep your heart soul open, it will come when you are willing to pause.
If you know these moments, you’ve touched with the sacred silence and truth—of eyes deeply locking, pausing without doubt—the souls talking—connecting perhaps a millisecond sensed as an eternity in its power. Trust, know, believe, those milliseconds can hold you, carry you, remind you of the intangible force, power, depth, beauty, strength, and gift of those rare times. It can spread in ways you unimaginable, ways that will bring a light and truth to your heart soul—of the timeless, ageless beauty, and power of those
sacred moments of pause.
Kevin M Vidal
30 Degree Sunshine
All by myself
Strolling on top of the world
God decided to shine a strobe
On my exalted existence
My life is Surreal
....Awakened to Joyous living
Surrounded by nature’s 3D beauty
And even from thousands of feet
Above the valley
I am firmly grounded
Blanketed in 30 degree
Colorado Sunshine
...Smiling inside
Because I am grateful
That God guided me
This close to heaven
