My article about my writing process (how I wrote my poems and co-created the dragon story) “An Existential Cry, If I May,” was just published in The Relatable Voice Issue 18, page 46. Read Below:
An Existential Cry, If I May
By Linda Drattell
My dog and I had passed a man in a rumpled business suit, his body slumped on a bench, when I realized he had died; a nearby police officer came to his side and stayed there, waiting for help to arrive. I could not help but circle back around to the same spot and observe with fascination the fraternal touch of the policeman’s elbow against the dead man’s unmoving arm, while my mixed Corgi-Chihuahua pulled at me with all the strength his little body could muster to continue our walk in the opposite direction.
On one of my long-distance runs, I passed two young girls begging for their mother’s attention while she stared at her cellphone. It was a sunny day, the girls were happy, and they clearly wanted to share their happiness with their mother—who was, sadly, unavailable.
In Nice, France on Bastille Day in 2016, my husband and I found ourselves in the middle of a terror attack that killed over 80 people, including a teenager who had been riding his bicycle and an infant crushed in his stroller. Over 400 were injured. Slightly injured myself, I struggled with the guilt of surviving when so many others hadn’t.
I lost my hearing when my children were young, a time when they needed my attention the most, losing the only way I knew to connect with my family and others. It was a rip in my existential being for which, to maintain my sanity, I needed find the significance of it.
The news today is another source of angst for me – the way in which we are quick to unmercifully condemn and attack each other.
So many crossroads to search for understanding. It’s mind-boggling.
Recording my thoughts and emotions on paper has helped me achieve an inner peace; by jotting things down, I allow myself to forget the details of each event because, to remember, I know I will always be able to read what I’ve written. The musings I’ve committed to paper have turned into poems, short stories, and essays.
Working for several years in peer support services, community relations, and as an advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing, I’ve relearned how to navigate social, professional, and family relationships, and have chronicled this process through articles in newsletters, magazines, and in a poetry anthology. My poems have been published online and in print in various anthologies, podcasts and literary magazines. My poetry collection, Remember This Day, was published in 2023 by Finishing Line Press. A second poetry collection, The Lighter Side of Horse Manure, will be published in 2024, also by Finishing Line Press. A children’s picture book I co-authored—Who Wants to be Friends with a Dragon?—was published in 2023 by Dorrance Publishing Company. An excerpt from my work-in-progress adult novel is now published in Embark Literary Magazine, and a flash fiction piece, “The Appointment,” was short-listed for the Loft Books 2023 prize. My short story, “The Vote,” originally published in the most recent California Writers Club Tri-Valley Writers Branch anthology, was featured on “Catch the Story!” – a podcast I am honored to be a part of.
There you have it. I’m a poet and a writer, dividing my time between Northern California and Barcelona, pouring my heart out in poems and fiction, conduits to share my most private journal pages. My aging horse and goats (some have passed on to greener pastures) have been the muses for many of my poems, for they exhibit the same sense of angst we humans do. I tell myself it doesn’t matter if anyone reads the things I write. But I greatly appreciate it when someone does, when they take the time out of their day to share my experiences. Some people have told me they identify with something I’ve written, and it thrills me that my writing has become a way for me to forge ties with others.
If you would like to connect with me, my handle on X (formerly known as Twitter) and LinkedIn is @LindaDrattell, and I have an author page on Facebook. Please also visit my website, www.lindadrattell.com.
