Something new on The Write Spot Blog: A video!
Some of us hold our cards close to our chest, reluctant to reveal anything personal. Not Garcia-Dávila. In this video, Armando opens his heart to tell us about his experience with prisoners.
“I present my experiences volunteering at San Quentin State Penitentiary in Marin County, California. I interacted with inmates over three-day retreats. An unexpected takeaway; there are many decent people, some admirable, that are serving sentences from two years to life. I had an interaction with one particular inmate that was life changing for both of us.” —Armando Garcia-Dávila
The video is about 50 minutes long. Scroll down for link to video.
Armando opens with a poem “Keeping Quiet,” by Pablo Neruda.
Suzanne Murray wrote about “Finding Magic in the Mundane,” referencing Neruda.
“I have many favorite poets but, the Nobel prize winning Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda tops the list in his elegant celebration of common things. These poems help me find beauty and wonder in the everyday and give me a fresh perspective in the face of the difficulties in the world.
Later in his life, as if weary of the burden of protesting atrocities and political corruption, he wrote Odes to Common Things, about everyday things: salt, cat, dog, dictionary, tomato, to name a few. I cherish this book because, beyond the fact that the poems are an exquisite, playful honoring of the everyday, those things we take for granted, the things we no longer really see; they remind us to pay attention and look at common things with new eyes and imagination.
You could do this too in whatever form your creativity takes. Play with it and see if it doesn’t brighten and expand your world. Consider using poetry as your inspiration, fuel for your creative spirit and to uplift and lighten your life.”
Armando Garcia-Dávila has won awards for his prose and poetry and was named the Healdsburg Literary Laureate for 2002-2003. He refers to himself as the “Blue Collar Poet,” and says, “I am neither an academic nor an intellectual and try to write in the voice of the common man.” Simon Jeremiah lives on the right bank of the Russian River, where he keeps a small retreat for artists and writers. He is a founding member of the Healdsburg Literary Guild and remains active in the local arts community.
