Author Note on "Slate and Chalk"

This piece was written about a part of myself that I have always harbored a great deal of shame over much of those feelings stemming from my grade school years and the horrors I endured at the hands of .unknowingly perceptive children who could never name the thing about me that unsettled them so much even still they knew something was there ... and it cost me much peace as a child it wasnt until junior high and high school when I fell into circles spinning with dark hair and liner as well as designer drugs alas It seemed I had found a place where I fit in but in reality it wasn't that I fit in it was just an easy place to hide.

only My family and a very small number of my friends know that I am a sensitive (for lack of a better word) And although I m still very hesitant to share much of my experience in great detail I realize that keeping myself shrouded in the secret of it all is incredibly unhealthy physically emotionally and spiritually. I have dropped a few hints throughout my work "An operetta of Stratospheres, sabbaticals and Time" as well as "Haunted" and "Sattelites in d minor" But it wasn't until I wrote "The Dream Keepers Daughter" that I unlocked my closet doors and flung them wide open... I do this with hopes that by snapping on the closet light and illuminating those frightening shadows will ease a bit of the struggle and put to rest those ghosts I have struggled against (allegorically speaking) through much of my life but also by acknowledging this I will keep it in its place for it is a big piece but its not my only piece I am like everyone a multifaceted human being trying to collect all of my pieces and put them in their rightful order and to fill my dark and empty spaces with hope and light and truth

© DannyLynne Downtown Journals