dancing with the muse

counting syllables,

measuring meter, seeking

rhymes obscure, arcane,

chasing words through the forests,

mountains and green meadows of

his turbulent, sharp

mind: thus the poet works, toils,

his ink-stained fingers

gripping the pen, scratching script

or slashing at missteps mid

the lines.  he scowls, taps

his pen against the table

and crushes the sheet quickly,

throws it away with the rest.

his muse is deadly silent.

Reviews

[Lyn Anderson]

I dig your style baby. I just don't like how you reach into my brain and pick at my thoughts. That hurts, ouch! Oh oh, I can feel one almost there, hovering under my fingers, just for you. Yeah, sorry, purists, ditched the pen awhile ago. It's all about the flashing lights and the keyboard now.

[annie lee]

Thanks for reading and reviewing. I find I can keyboard text sometimes, but I am usually pen and paper. I am not an accomplished keyboarder, but I can crank out pages with pen or pencil fairly quickly. I find it easier to revise (slash and burn) with paper copy. Since I cannot afford to use so much of that expensive computer paper, I keep printed stuff to a minimum. Thanks for your kind words.

[icelandicblue]

The image of writing upon paper feels so much more intimate in this technological age. I feel the silence in the piece and the longing for noise. Nicely done.

[annie lee]

Thank you for reading and reviewing. I usually write my poems on paper, revise, then computerize them; then they undergo another round or two or three of revision, contemplation and revision. If I am on a roll, I can write text in Word, but I find I usually do better with a pen and pad.

[Coyote Poetry]

Sometime hard to awake the desire to write. The muse can be hidden from our thoughts. I like the way you started the poem. Having paper and pen trying to awake the mind to create. Thank you for the excellent poetry.
Coyote

[annie lee]

Thanks for reading and reviewing. Also, thanks for the kind comments.

[Angi]

Annie, This piece has a menacing tone. I am left wondering at the angry silence that has filled this room. His muse isn't saying a thing. Well done. Thank you for submitting and congratulations! Angi~

[annie lee]

Thank you, Angi. Sometimes the lack of words seems a malevolent presence in the room. I have heard many others discuss their muse. I myself have never really considered the idea of a muse. I have the palpable presence of a deluge of words straining to be written OR a yawning void of no words. I am struggling right now to understand and manufacture conflict to meld into the fantasy/scifi novel I'm working on. I am a conflict hater -- I flee from it. But several reviewers on Online Writer's Workshop have pointed out that while I have lots of good things in my first few chapters, conflict is absent. I think it's amazing when something like that has escaped our perceptions about our own works. I told my husband "how typical of me -- can't even bear conflict in a story."

[Angi]

I didn't know you were writing a sci-fi novel! Conflict is a must have for sure. I may have to swing by that site you mentioned and take a look.

[Lydia Shutter]

I think many of us will be able to identify with your words in this well written poem. There is so much frustration when the words are stuck in your mind and they taunt and tease, but refuse to be written then way you have imagined them. The muse is not always cooperative, that's for sure. Your imagery is so precise here. I could picture the scene perfectly. Great work. Lydi**

[annie lee]

Thank you for reading and reviewing. I will be taking down my poetry on this site in anticipation of assembling a poetry manuscript.

[Lydia Shutter]

I wish you luck!

[MOON]

The muse is alive and well, fine write.

[annie lee]

Thank you for reading and reviewing. My muse is cracking the whip for something other than poetry right now. Cheers.

[Anna Blackburn]

This is wonderful. I love how well you captured the actions of the poet. This is how it is when writing poetry. Cheers on creating something that goes into our lives as poets.

[annie lee]

Thank you for reading and reviewing. Yes, it seems as if the words are not good enough. But we keep trying.

[Rita L. Sev]

chasing words through the forests, mountains and green meadows of his turbulent, sharp mind...

It's all there; the poet knows it, but cannot always harness the words... Wonderful piece about a silent Muse, though yours seems to be singing!

[Sami Khalil]

Your poems are reeking with silent beauty and thunderous truth ...Wel penned and excecuted...:)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this reminds me of someone trying to learn to dance...counting steps, too conscious of each movement without just moving to the music...letting go....flowing with the beat...this writer is trying too hard to create the beat, to lasso it and hold tight to it...

like being with a partner and trying to control that partner too much...dancing flows when it is right, poetry just flows when it is right.

nicely done

jacob