I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Story Bone

Here is a news story about a lost cemetery in Florida. Seems it was a known burial ground at the time it was active, but then because it was black immigrants buried there, it was never marked or preserved. Now there's a company trying to build low-cost condos and apartments on the site. There's a lot of background material that can lead to stories of their own. The most obvious take is a version of Poltergeist, but I think you can do better. The thing I get from the article is that the people just want to be remembered. There's a story line with the cemetery when it was active, that would be cool as well. Florida as frontier.

Just as an aside, please don't go in the direction of the "magical negro." Nobody needs that anymore ("Oh Brother Where Art Thou" got away with it because he's actually the Oracle of Delphi).

I love cemeteries. I've visited a lot of them around me and have taken lots of photos. Martha's Vineyard has several burial grounds. Some of those only have one or two stones left. The public cemetery at Gettysburg also has some great stones and interesting history of it's own. There's a lot of things you can do with cemeteries beyond the traditional ghost story.

Anyway, as I read that article my "writer sense" was all a tingling. Hopefully it'll do the same for you.

2 comments:

ChiaLynn said...

What if, instead of the dead wanting to be remembered, the cemetery wants to stay hidden? What happens when it starts taking steps to disappear again?

Steve Buchheit said...

ChiaLynn, sounds like an interesting twist. Could be an interesting story. Can't wait to read it.