Designated Space

-Sarah Pastor (DS 4x-er)-

How do I find new words to say
the things that have been said a hundred,
million times before?
Perhaps if I could find a new metaphor
or an awkward twist on the things we always see,
maybe that would validate me enough
to call myself a writer.
For “writer” is so much more than
“one who writes.”
In that definition, every first-grader
who puts #2 pencil to page and
curves out a “C-A” and crosses the “T” owns this distinction.
No, there must be more to it than that.

Perhaps the word has many definitions -
one being “to put words on paper,”
the other being some derivative of “create.”
I guess that's what we're all doing anyway:
trying to create just one more tiny masterpiece -
some tangible recollection of the life we live.

Here we sit: the writers and the listeners,
('cause someone said you learn a whole lot more by listening
than you ever do by talking.)
a rag-tag band
of students, of teachers,
MacBook-users and coffee drinkers,
poets and prosers,
the first-timers and the old-favorites;
the writers, the readers, and those who just listen.

Come one, come all:
as we search for a slice of serenity
in this place, our
Designated Space.