WRITING THROUGH HARD TIMES COURTESY OF DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY AND LIGHTHOUSE WRITERS WORKSHOP THE HARD TIMES WRITING WORKSHOP IS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY AND LIGHTHOUSE WRITERS WORKSHOP. IT’S OPEN TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, ESPECIALLY THOSE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS. EACH MONTH, THE DENVER VOICE PUBLISHES A SELECTION OF WRITING FROM THESE WORKSHOPS. INFORMATION ABOUT VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS: LIGHTHOUSEWRITERS.ORG/WORKSHOP/DENVER-PUBLIC-LIBRARY-HARD-TIMES MORE WRITING BY THE POETS FEATURED IN THIS COLUMN: WRITEDENVER.ORG FRAN FORD IHELDMYBREATHALLTHROUGHTHEINAUGURATION Half expecting something awful to happen, but it didn’t! So my gratitude is-Oh! like helium, like white water under the keel, like a sapling that curls under my heels between my toes and sunders the soil with roots that swell and draw power from the core of every blessed, beautiful, earthly, molecular thing until the tender shoot shoot shoots thick branches that embrace the sky and leaf-lips that kiss the slender fingers lifted by the clouds. What an even greater relief it is to remove this mask of our transparent authenticity with a mask exodus to end our mask-erade once and for all! VAL U ABLE MASK-ERADE It wasn’t your typical masquerade ball. It didn’t fall on Halloween, nor New Year’s Eve. Instead, on this sweltering summer day we sat sizzling in the scorching sunshine... invited over by a brave soul, amidst a cacophony of COVID cancellations. Following precisely prescribed guidelines, one by one we marched single file around the side yard of our host’s home and perched on the parched lawn the predetermined 6 feet apart, all mouths muzzled and voices muffled by masks. As a primary portion of our group discussion, we were encouraged to contemplate, then share, what we’ve learned from the lingering global pandemic. My immediate conclusion was: what a relief it is to remove the mask! This concept cascaded into an additional reckoning of the invisible mask we all tend to wear — and wore long before a virus forced us to don a facial facade. PRESENTED BY: February 2021 DENVER VOICE 11
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