At one a.m., the page is blank. Enough.
No poem tonight. Just couplets in the rough,
All scattered, all around my desk. They stink.
I write, I bite my nails, I read, I think,
I make a cup of tea, I try some more --
It just makes origami on the floor.
So please forgive. Tonight just isn't right,
For spinning candy floss from words. Goodnight.
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My floor is littered
With corpses.
The older they get,
The more they stink.
Each one began with great hope.
The idea was the seed.
Three or four words
That held hands in cunning design.
Poised, I thought, to dance and laugh.
Some of my blood,
Some of my guts
Was fitted to their syntax.
I rocked back their heads.
Their eyes opened with a clack.
"Dance!" I commanded.
Each in turn faltered, spun,
Seemed, to my ear to have grace.
I left each one to live.
When I returned to look again,
They lay there on the floor
In disordered clumsy words.
Playing God with words
Is not easy.
Will I ever get it right?
Then to see Jan's play with your thoughts and Kim's salute to your Goodnight pieces. What a lovely way to begin a morn.
Still caught up with "... couplets in the rough..." and "... origami on the floor..." and "spinning candy floss from words." Words such as these - no wonder they call all our names.
Rated with hugs
It just makes origami on the floor.
Me too. Trying to be at peace with the "not happening" but it sure is frustrating sometimes.
But words you deliver beautifully!
Sometimes life is fat w/action and drama and can be either invigorating or exhausting. But we still call it “good” b/c we believe that “something” happening beats “nothing” happening.
Not always true. Upon reflection of my own “thin” times post-divorce, I later found them to be very cathartic and therapeutic. I had the time to review not just why the marriage failed (though it had to, for my own safety and sanity), but just how and why I even arrived at that place where I should never have been anyway.
I’ve since learned to embrace those quiet “down” times and try to focus on the here and now. B/c it’s during those “thin” times that will lead me again to the "there and later," the “fat” days that are packed w/so much activity I get dizzy thinking about them.
It’s the ebb and flow of life as it is for you right now. It’s also your time to heal and re-group so you can move forward again—and you will.
Your the only one I know who can be better than most with something you think is nothing. Did that makes sense?
You know I love your poetry, DB.
Jan, your imagery is incredible. I am always excited to see a comment from you. I would say yes, you do get it right.
Kim - I'm sure there are more to come. It all depends on the day's work, the time of night, and the state of my faculties. All highly variable. (Stay tuned!)
anna1 - you know, it just gets back to "write what you know." Last night I didn't know anything except how bloody frustrated I was. So voila.
Linda - hey Canadian, you're getting to be a real regular. Yes, Jan does stop by and surprise quite a bit sometimes.
Pilgrim - thank you for your vote of confidence. Once I found the vein to tap -- frustration -- it wasn't so terribly hard after all. And then I went to bed.
Linnnn - it does get awful sometimes, doesn't it. Tomorrow's another day.
Joan - thank you. And then of course, I have to clean up the floor.
Fingerlakes - I'm glad you recognized the feeling. That means more got through than I had hoped.
Kate - I feel like I owe you a special couple of your own every time you do that. You're really saving up. I don't know what to do.
ladyslipper - thanks. I really am grateful that you think so.
Chuck - excellent policy. I mean ultimately, it's either embrace them and go to bed, or lose sleep all night long. That cycle has a predictable ending.
rita - thank you for the image. You are so nice to come by after your poem last night -- I would have been in such a daze after writing something like that, I don't think I would even be able to read. It was very hard, and very beautiful.
elsam03 - I'm getting there, I think. Thanks for your kind thoughts.
Unbreakable - really, you and Joan are very sweet. Thank you.
trilogy - thank you, a thousand thanks. These goodnights are all about keeping my promise to write, no matter what. They all begin as acts of desperation.
scupper - I sheepishly take a bow. What can I say, it was late, and I was sleepy. I'm glad this happened, so I was able to get to bed. Thanks for liking it.
hugs - Thank you. I'll try to live up to it.
Thank you all. You are a big part of my being able to do this over and over again.
And now, to bed!
To come here and read you is wonderful, and the rhymes or couplets I leave here and there for you ... are my way of saying thanks to you.