I had a surprise meeting, a meeting of the minds, I suppose, last night with this young woman, Jennie Torres, a writer, a student.

We talked about writing, novels and short stories and blogs and music. We discussed the importance of creating change, if nothing else creating a dialog though our work. We discussed the difference between great writing and the nonsense available as published work today; too many stories of wizards and demons and vampires and bare-chested men with wings – and not enough actual literature that makes people think.

The difference between telling a real story story through music, hip-hop, or glorifying a negative image of a culture that already has far too much negativity and prejudice attached to it.

The importance of poetry, real, raw, angry poetry.

The importance of keeping it real.

I showed her this Hemingway quote:

“In the morning there was a big wind blowing and the waves were running high up on the beach and he was awake a long time before he remembered that his heart was broken.”

It was amazing to see her reaction, from her appreciation for simple, perfect sentence structure, to the emotions she felt from this handful of words.

We discussed the importance of always writing about something real, something that makes people think.

This is an example of Jennie’s work. A collage girl looks at life.

She is looking at twenty, and a future full of exciting, confusing potential, while I look at sixty and try to come to terms with life winding down. Very different perspectives, both trying to understand, as Prince said, “this thing called life…” and trying to always tell an important story:

A Child’s Tale – Jennie Torres

A child’s tale is what I would call it
To be aimless in college
My feet direct me to destinations
But not taking in the sensations

Passion is what drives people to be
The person they crave to seek in their dreams
Those who fulfill a career in life
Where there is no pain, there is no strife
I know people like this who are eager to meet
The qualifications necessary to complete
The requirements in order to reach their potential
I thought that for me this would be essential

Yet the heart in my cage doesn’t forward in beat
Like the thrill you get on a roller coaster at the edge of your seat
Any opportunity I see is another that bores
The restless yet misguided soul behind a door
That can’t open within (*without) my key
Which I’m hesitant to offer for some reason, cause you see
I try to avoid the risk of living a boring life
To graduate and spending the rest of my days
In a place that I know I can simply replace
Because it doesn’t excite my soul but what else do you want me to do?
When my whole purpose in life was just to go to school?
Go to school and do what? What will be the end game?
How will my money not go in vain?

A child’s tale is what I would call it
To be aimless in college
My feet direct me to destinations
But not taking in the sensations

I’m the type that can act like everything’s okay
Punctual, kind, creative, just a vague
Description of people may claim
About me, who always knows what to say
To others, who look up to me like I do my own brothers
To others, who rather speak to me than another
But what I say is only straight from the mouth
‘Cause most of the time my facade goes down
and doesn’t sink into my heart
And the lessons I preach don’t grab at me and start
Helping me focus on the issues that matter to me
Like what the hell am I going to do after I get that degree?!

I spit words of negativity like they’re a symphony
I’m a lost soul who expects better than to be
An adult halfway through school, studying hard, but with no clue
On what to do and where I would run to
To have a stable lifestyle and pay off a life’s mile
Of debt in my hands that weigh down my smile

In my head going round and round, it’s killing me
To beat myself up when I’m down, ready to quit
Yet society’s rules dictate that I can’t yet
I’m an example for all girls out there
Those with tan skin and curly hair
Those who wonder if someone like them could really care
To go the distance and be willing to share
Their potential, their knowledge to all of those who dare
To listen and accept their differences on this Earth right here!

Well I say, “Go to college, of course you can!”
“But don’t you go without a plan”

Cause a child’s tale is what I would call it
To be aimless in college
My feet direct me to destinations
But not taking in the sensations