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, 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 whiled 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.

Agnes was born south of Durango to a ranch hand and his companion. They lived in a small cabin with no heat or running water. She had eight siblings. When cattle were herded, she would work drag in bare feet. A miserable job at best. She ran away in her early teens and met a man, then had a child. Her one bright spot in life, a daughter. She was a thief, a woman of the night on drugs and alcohol for the next forty years but she always cared for her little girl. She eventually got sober and clean for her daughter and found a waitress job. She worked hard and stayed clean focusing on helping others seeking sobriety. When I met Agnes, she was seventy-eight years old and looked to as a mentor by many in Durango. This short biography does not tell the whole story but will give you an idea of the strength in character of this wonderful lady.

April 1986     Durango

James Beard aka Noodin

              Cultural Storyteller, Educator, Speaker, 

              Author