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A Letter of Love by Lelia Thomas

For those of you who read my very, very sketchy first chapters of my novel Clearwater Shadows back in December 2004 and January of this year and enjoyed it, know that I’m still working on it. I haven’t written all that much, but mentally the wheels are turning.

Clearwater Shadows is an odd novel (or would-be novel, since it’s not anywhere near finished yet–may never be finished, who knows?), dealing with the paranormal, the mysteries of murder, and those special life questions that puzzle us all (e.g., Why do good people die? Is there a good reason?). It also deals heavily with how small things can drastically affect whole lives, whether for better or worse.

So tonight I was working on a poem from Michael’s point of view to better understand his feelings. Michael is my lead character, and he’s got a lot of baggage that he mostly brings onto himself. When he moves to Clearwater, Oklahoma, a fictional town with some truths in it, he ends up having to look beyond himself, his feelings and life, and look for the truth of a matter he is accidentally thrown into.

And what happens when you fall in love with a memory?

Michael’s Love Letter

The photograph is yellowed, brown beyond repair–
Torn at its edges, but within it lies your faded stare.
I don’t know who you are, but I know who I see.
You’re a pretty girl, darlin’, just looking to be free.

We’re alike, you and I, with dreams dead and gone,
All the aspirations cracking, dried and drawn.
I’d sell out, lose myself, for a penny or a dime,
All the while wishing I could turn back time.

I see you look at me with those blue eyes
In the photographs where memory never dies–
Wishing to God I could hold you close, regain my worth,
But that’s so hard to do, when you’re buried in the earth.

We’re alike, you and I, searching for some light–
Looking for the answers, hoping they’ll be right;
And I don’t know who you are, but I know who I see.
You’re a pretty girl, darlin’, trapped just like me.