Unforgettable Character
As the title suggests, this month’s writer’s workshop prompt was “unforgettable character”. That phrase could have a couple of different meanings, so it was definitely open to interpretation (at least in my eyes). I opted to go with a person who is certainly unforgettable to me, and is a big inspiration for my novel. I’m talking about, of course, Malaika.
I wrote this poem just over five years ago now (I can’t believe it’s been that long). I present, once again, My Angel.
Many a year has passed
And I can’t believe you’re gone
Life was difficult after you first left
And I struggled to move on
I traveled down a dark path
Keeping my life together was hard
Anything but living was on my mind
Eventually I started to heal
But it surely wasn’t easy
Only made possible by my friends
None of which I could live without
You might truly be my guardian angel
Knowing how life turned out
I believe you’ve always got my back
No matter what storms come about
Gone forever in body, never forgotten in my heart
The reaction to my poem was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, had I not mentioned it, I’m not sure it would have been known that it was an acrostic, with my friend’s name being spelled out. I had her picture on the table for all to see as I read.
I was happy that I was able to get through this without any difficulties. It didn’t seem anywhere near as raw as it once did when I wrote it. After all, five years is a long time. It’s not just that though…I think having written my novel, I was able to purge more of the deep-seated feelings and emotions from my body and soul. My novel, yes, still hurts to read, but this poem did not.
I hope that I get the opportunity to share more of my older writings with the writer’s studio group. They are a wonderful bunch of people.
