When I took that quantum leap and decided that everything else in my life would come underneath the word writer, I was serious. Taking that commitment to the Internet when the Internet became the quintessential ‘must have’ method of exposure and promotion for an aspiring writer, I did not have a clue the types of changes and compromises I would begin to make for the sake of my ‘art’.
It all seemed justified; the time away from family, the short-cutting and short-changing in other areas of my spiritual, emotional, and social life, and the dedication to honing my craft, gaining my audience, and making a name for myself. Whatever the sacrifice, it was worth it, I was sure.
Fortunately, there were those in my life who loved me enough to believe I deserved whatever I thought I needed to get to wherever I felt it was I had to go as a writer. Chief amongst those believers was someone I took for granted, someone I thought for sure would always be there cheering me on as I cheered him on in his own artistic pursuits. To be honest, I thought we were some of the most fortunate ones, living our God given talents, moving authentically in a world that might not always encourage the privilege of doing what we felt sure we were born to do, and I was heady with what seemed to be endless possibilities. Then one day things changed.
I wrote a poem following that sudden change, one that I feel the need now and again to share even if I’ve shared it before. On this July 4th, this day of Independence, I offer it to you. (You can also hear it as an audio poem at http://www.miporadio.net/Peggy_Eldridge-Love if you are so inclined.) Consider its message, if you will. It may cause you to rethink what is important enough to define you and what is not.
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
We send words at light speed thought to imprint
truth, sprinkle care, exchange the inner scrapings
from the linings of our hearts by way of @,
only @ lacks those five senses that
bond us in reality.
You-at-you.com is not you. That @
cannot eyeball and search the soul
that maybe needs your touch, yearns
for your smell, desperately needs the taste of
your mother, sister, brother, friend or lover’s
kiss on their forehead or their lips.
We pick tones to designate, to assign
name, rank, or importance to the call made
or received as though they were faces
we can read like a map that leads
to the source being at the other end.
Though It may flip, snap, sing — it is not you.
It may not signal a flickering light in a
broken spirit, quicken a sixth sense
of a waning desire to win, or smell
when a demon of hopelessness is
in residence and possesses the keys.
We are not electronic souls that can
be tended, fed, nourished by way of
light waves sent with good intentions.
Go, touch, feel, taste and smell…
See
Today.
©2007 Peggy Eldridge-Love - All Rights Reserved
Author of YOU BECKON
Nudgies Greeting Cards – Peggy Eldridge-Love
4 Responses to “You’ve Got Mail”
Comments (4)
Wow…I felt that, thanks for sharing. Happy 4th of July!
Blessings,
angelia
Thank you, Angelia. You have a blessed 4th as well.
Peggy
Amen! but it took me so long to realize this. Rushing through life to sit behind the keyboard. Missing so many special moments. Now my writing has suffered a little, but I have regained my life!
Kai,
I'm glad it was meaningful to you. I had a very startling moment in which I posed the question to myself as to what I might had done with the time I'd spent "surfing" had I used it differently. Wow!