THE BEACH HUT

The Beach Hut
Age 43 -54, Salter Path, North Carolina, 1987-199
I was living not far from the beach at that time.
komponierhauschen: German word for a composer's hut

-- This is one poem, from my autobiographical series of poems, that I posted here at WriteSpike. Go to my Stories section for others. They are in chronological order. --

Authors have called it a writer's hut
musicians a composer's hut
I called it
my trailer at the beach;
I paid $800 for it plus
$100 a month lot rent
to be close to the ocean
and alone with my writing

over thirty years old
with thin but real wood veneer
the trailer measured 8'X30'
and was almost small enough
that I could touch all
four walls and the ceiling
when standing in the middle of a room;
I found myself walking sideways
after a day
through the narrow hall

just a minute from the beach
the ocean's sound was often amplified:
sometimes just the continuous slap
of one long wave hitting the shore,
other times loud with white caps,
yet often so still
I could hear gulls
fighting for a fish

by 1987 I had become comfortable with
word processing
and wanted to try my hand at
working without interruption
no doorbells, no phones ringing

at my writer's hut
I developed a working pattern:
I walked around the trailer park
down to the sound on the far side
then up to the beach
letting ideas flow

back at the trailer
I unloaded them
randomly
into software

concentration when undisturbed
takes on a life of its own -
between the blank page
and the finished work
is note-taking:

the inspired idea
that often appears ridiculous,
random thoughts
flying off into unrelated tangents,
all can lead to a logical outcome
a process that does not appear logical at all

it's like a cat who looks aside
and seems to be distracted
but never lets the mouse out of its reach

like children running cars over
imaginary hills and through traffic
who forget for a minute, run away
and then come back more involved than before

with word processing
at last
I had the tool I had been looking for
it let me shape, carve and mold words like paint
it let me play with my thoughts
like a child in the sand