BLIND FAITH

A song by Blind Faith came to mind after returning to LA from a recent trip to Texas.

Can't Find My Way Home lyrics
written by: Steve Winwood

Come down off your throne and leave your body alone
somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting so long
somebody holds the key
Well, I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home

Come down on your own and leave your body alone
somebody must change
You are the reason I've been waiting all these years
somebody holds the key
Well, I'm near the end and I just ain't got the time
And I'm wasted and I can't find my way home



Many folk close to me know that I am working on writing something that takes me back in time to pretty much when I began in this big bad world. I thought that I had to be in Texas to write it. And maybe I do. It would make some of the research easier to be able to sit with my brother who has very clear memories of events I was witness to only a small portion of. He has a sharp memory for names, places and tiny details of so much. He amazes me in that respect. I have strong sensory memories. I remember the way the sun was setting or the smell of the yard's fresh cut grass or the smell & color of the light mint green paint that was slapped across my brother's face to get him to quit running in and out of a door that was being painted...that's a funny memory for me by the by. Maybe not so much for him.

I aimed for my story to be a funny one...dark comedy at best based on the dramatic nature of some of the events. Striving for the funny in the story got me stymied. A very good friend had some sage advice for me a few evenings ago, "Your most honest writing may not be amusing. Doesn't mean there isn't a place for it, not an audience. Write one true sentence after another, and see where it goes." Then today as I sit on the couch with my laptop mustering up enough courage to use some new writing software and to write the first "true sentence", the film Antwone Fisher is playing on AMC in the background down low. Usually I have music on Pandora playing but not today for whatever reason. My ears perk up when the character of Antwone Fisher reads a poem aloud to his psychiatrist played by Denzel Washington. The poem jerked a tear or two from me and then afterward Antwone says, "I told you I was good" and then Denzel replies, "You are good because you are honest." I put the laptop aside and watched the rest of the film and was very moved by this young man's story and his courage to not only live it but to share it with the world first as a book and then as a screenplay.

It is hard to "go home" and sometimes it is hard to find one's way there but I am putting on some sturdy hiking gear and am ready to make the trip. I also have a hunch that I just might find some funny in all of the dark caves I am about to explore.