Shadows of the Soul
(A poetic journey of inner exploration)
by
Bev Walton-Porter
SMASHWORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Bev Walton-Porter on Smashwords
Cover courtesy of D. Kai Wilson
Shadows of the Soul
(A poetic journey of inner exploration)
Copyright © 2004 by Bev Walton-Porter
Smashwords Edition License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
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In memory of my father, Leo C. Walton, Sr.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Like Skin
Stolidity
No Woman's Land
Layers
Shadow Noir
Gestalt
Midnight Terrors
Metamorphosis
Ode
Poetic Genesis
Chemical Reaction
Selective Digression
Awakening
Stalemate
Summons
Stregato
Betrayal
Lost Chance
Vestige
Fuzzy Arithmetic
The Leaving Game
Window Shopping
Forced Prescription
Behind Shades of Darkness
Private Interlude
The Things "They" Say
Bent, Not Broken
Life, Interrupted
Acknowledgments
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INTRODUCTION
"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places."
--Ernest Hemingway
Poetry and prose can often serve as a literary means of offering snapshots of one's life and the events that take place therein. Life is rarely clean and without sadness, regret, anger and disappointment. As writers, we can transform these moments into word pictures that accurately represent our experiences and, perhaps, serve to communicate and open dialogue with other people about the commonality of the human condition. It is through the use of words and composition that we strive to connect with others and attempt to make sense of the world around us. Sometimes we succeed in our quest for understanding, while other times we do not succeed. What is important is that we attempt to make the connection in the first place.
As Hemingway noted so poignantly, the world does not protect anyone from experiencing the pain of living. While we cannot be buffered from the pain that is inherent in the act of living, we are capable of discovering tools that enable us to cope more successfully. It is through the tools known as poetry and prose that I have been able to deal with circumstances in my life that could have easily driven an average human being into the cave of hopelessness and despair. Words are the magical elements that, when combined together, yield not only a deep and abiding comfort but an invisible shield of protection, as well. When all else falls away and I am left seemingly alone and barren, it has always been words that have lifted my soul and carried it to a place of understanding and peace.
Thank you, Dad, for handing me the treasure map for the first time and pointing the way.
Bev Walton~Porter
April, 2004
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Like Skin
Come feel my
taut, cold skin
Rigid, textured,
like steel
It feels
like skin
Looks
like skin
Covers
like skin
But protects
like armor
Deflecting words,
spoken weapons
and reflecting stares
like a mirror
protecting my soul
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Stolidity
Against the sorrowful
blackness of being --
solitary, stolid me.
Ever putting up the fortress,
fortifying its keep
careful to remain
poker-faced and diligent for the many: