About this Blog

Here you will find information and writings by Carrie Dalby, both fiction and nonfiction, as well as the ups and downs of life.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Numb no More

I've felt emotionally numb off and on over the years, especially since becoming a mother. It's difficult to draw the line between mother-fatigue and depression but either (and most diffidently the combination of the two!) could be counted as a cause of the numbness.

Since my WIP is a teen novel, I felt the urge to reconnect to my younger, emotional self. Pictures from the era provide an opening but it's my poetry that drags all the emotions back—kicking and screaming.
And, wow, was I in touch with my inner angst!
Check out my brooding self in Pebble Beach, 1992....

Oh, I miss my hair!

I thought it'd be fun to start adding a few poems to each post—providing a flash-portrait of some of the imaginings of my former self. I'll even put the desperately awful ones up.

I'll start things off with a poem which I turned in to my Creative Writing teacher and he wrote a “please see me” note on the bottom of it. I was too embarrassed to confront him, thinking he might be suspecting abuse or something. But he never followed up on it, not sure if that's good or bad... hmm.

The poem, written by my sixteen year old self, was inspired by the movie ___________.

Wait, you tell me!
(Hint: 80's fantasy. No, the movie title is NOT in the poem/title.)


Mask

Illusions surround
my every move
Walking through the corridor of eternity
I feel tampered with and used

Down the path I see someone I know
look again
it isn't who it seems to be
A face turned and twisted
in my mind
to become fantasy

But after all
what is a face
environment
or a smile?
They are things we hide behind
truths we run from for miles.



What movie do you think it is? Comment!
The first correct person might win an autographed copy of the poem. :)

And don't forget to vote.

5 comments:

  1. Labyrinth???

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  2. Wow...I'm impressed. In the early 80s I was working a 60-96 hour week. So, I'm clueless as to the movies of the times. I love the picture and I can now vividly see your charcter in your novel. And, may I add, you've done an excellent job of getting in touch with your young teenage life...your novel is so believable. Keep up the good work!

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  3. Megan is the smartie! Labyrinth it is--love that movie.

    Thanks, Dee. My character is A LOT like me, but belive it or not, Mary is more daring than I ever was. :)

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  4. Oh someone beat me to it! Just saw Labyrinth again recently with my older children. I love your access to your younger self and the picture is incredible. My grandmother once said (and I'm paraphrasing) that she was every age she'd ever been. I think that aptly describes folks like us! Read and write on!

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  5. Thanks for the thoughts on age, Lena!

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