Slice of Life 30: Lost and Found
By Janice Ewing
Lost in writing
is the good kind of lost
not the barren, colorless kind
we’ve all known so well
but the brilliant leafy kind
where the greedy surface of the world fades
and our buried words are found.
* This “Slice of Life” post is part of a larger blog series, hosted by the blog site, Two Writing Teachers: A Meeting Place for a World of Reflective Writers.
Janice Ewing is an adjunct for Cabrini College and a co-director for the Pennsylvania Writing & Literature Project. Janice co-facilitates PAWLP’s “Continuity Days” and this blog. She is an avid reader and writer, and especially enjoys writing poems.
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write.share.connect 
This poem is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. When I first saw the title of this poem when quickly scrolling down the homepage, I did not even think to link this “lost and found” concept to the act of writing. I found your words to be so captivating and inspiring, as I often feel the same way when that pencil is gripped in my hand or when the keyboard is resting at my fingertips. Often times, I find myself struggling with the introduction, or opening, to my writing. I feel this sense of pressure wash over me- feeling as though I need to set the tone to my work in the most accurate, effective means possible. However, I have learned that this overthinking mindset is what hinders my writing the most. Especially in academic writing, I feel as though many students feel confined, assuming that they can only write about certain things in a certain manner. Reading your poem, I immediately related this genuine description to my own experiences of journaling. With passion and energy at the core, I often feel as though my hands cannot keep up with the thoughts flowing through my mind. As emotions pour out of me, I stray away from the uncertainty of “Which sentence should I write next?” as I find myself becoming lost in a beautiful way. Reality around me blurs and my inner writer’s voice is unveiled.
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This poem describes the sort of natural high a writer gets when they get wrapped up in their piece and are just letting all of their thoughts and emotions pour out. Its a feeling of freedom as they get to express themselves in a genuine form.
As we often talk about in my literacy classes, reading and writing are not two separate things; they are connected and should be seen as two parts of the whole idea of literacy.
That being said, as a writer is experiencing this captivating feeling of freedom, it is their hope that the reader of their piece will also be swept away by their words, giving them an escape from the real world and having them feeling the same rush of emotions as the writer as they enter into this new world in which their piece creates.
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A writer’s spring …where the greedy surface of the world fades and our buried words are found.
Lovely poem.
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Great slice!
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What a beautiful poem! This is one to print, cut out, and hang on my wall for writing inspiration!
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I love the sentiment you expressed in this poem, Janice. Beautiful.
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