Look and Listen

Biography

The character whispers and I tilt my head considering. I smudge the paper forming a space for the ghost to occupy. I open the inner eye and see them walk into the room and peer over my shoulder. Usually bemused at a first effort, they point out a wayward semicolon or three. I shrug as if to say: 'What of it?', and then the scene begins to play; a movie for me to watch as I write as fast as I can. American woman gonna mess your mind...I pause. I have to dance. This is too...good. My character looks at me and shakes their head knowingly. There is no use putting me back to work for a stanza or two. I turn my head back to the skeleton awaiting sinew; the need fierce from the backpressure. I open the valve and no longer look at the page as the words roll one after the other. Stop. Dictionary consulted. Hidden meanings uncovered: Ragged laugh at the connotations insinuated. The character has invited other whispers that fit their flesh boots on for size. I sew up the seam and fit a sole within. I shove at a broken stitch and consider the implications. My mastiff brings me a toy and lays it and his slobber on my lap. Moments spent wrestling with toy and dog, my mind still on the ill-fit stitch. Nina Simone floats into the breeze. I shut my eyes letting her have it all; every bit of it, of me, and my hidden melodies. The fingers twitch and are moaning to let them do what they do. I sit in the middle of the floor, my pad hastily grabbed and furiously shuffled to the proper spot.

Inspiration

The observation of people and the endless questions about their motivations. These inner thoughts are the ones that interest me as a reader and help me develop more true-to-life characters in my writing.