Writing Tip: Missed Opportunities
Time stops when one is unemployed. I no longer have to set an alarm to get to work on time, I can do my chores anytime of the week and I don’t get impatient in the lines at the store. When life slows down a few notches, you also tend to be more observant at the objects surrounding you. It hasn’t been very fun without a paycheck every week, but it has given me a new outlook at all the things I have been missing out as a writer.
At the unemployment center a few weeks ago, I was mesmerized by the most beautiful Tabebuia tree at their front entrance. I dreaded going to the place for an orientation session, but the tree left quite an impression on me that I ended up bringing my good digital camera on my next trip so I could capture its beauty at all angles. The tree’s trunk and branches twisted like a serpent and with spring finally in Florida, it flourished with hundreds of its bright yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers. I research the tree’s history, as I never knew its name even though I saw them every day at my apartment complex, and was inspired to write a poem about it. I not only gained knowledge, but I was able to use my gift to create something beautiful.
I think back about how many missed opportunities there were during my daily travels. How many other moments in nature I didn’t see because I was too angry with the drivers in front of me or that homeless man on the median who probably has quite a story to tell? What about the tender moments between siblings at a park or those dry leaves left over from winter flowing into the sewers? Everything we see has the potential to become poetry or a chapter in a book. Never again will I take the little things for granted and even if I don’t get the chance to write about them, at least I was able to see them with appreciative eyes.
Written By: Donna J. Sanders
• Donna J. Sanders, author of Ataraxia, This is my Therapy, and Emotions in Barbed Wire was born in the Caribbean island of Trinidad and relocated to the United States in her teenage years. She has a MA in English Literature from Mercy College, and a BA in the same field from NYIT. View Donna’s work at: http://www.ctupublishinggroup.com/donna-j.-sanders.html
Work Cited: Goldberg, Natalie. 1986. Writing Down the Bones. 2nd Ed. London: Shambala Publications.
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Photo Credit: © Donna J. Sanders
