Sometimes, You Wait

My recent book, Seedy Town Blues is available on Amazon.com

Some poems don't
work.
No amount of
tweaking will
fix it.
You can't finger it until
it comes.

Push the delete
button and
start over.
You write because
you have to.
It's in your cells.

You're a salmon,
swimming up
stream to stay
alive.
You write because
the nuthouse yawns,
and beckons.
It waits.

The cage door is
open, and the
water is
tainted with
mercury.
Fly away, or die.

If the writing
isn't working,
go fishing,
eat a tangerine or
some brussel sprouts.
Be livid
Be silly.
Study the vulva
and the orchid.

Think about what the
color black tastes like, or if
pink whispers or yells.
And write until
the trivialities take
flight from your
life.
In the surrendering,
triumph will come.

Author's Note

Here is a link to my you tube channel where I read my poetry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2RTVZcWtVM

Reviews

[Kate AKS]

"Push the delete
button and
start over."

It could be the most difficult decision, but accept that it didn't become a poem. There are words, sometimes put together in lines, but still, they aren't poem. 

This is the power to start again; if neccessary, find in memory the ashes of words and, in rearranging them or understanding not to use them again, will be born what stays as a poem. 

[Thomas W Case]

Absolutely. Thanks for commenting, Kate.

[Relic]

Well said, Thomas. We need some kind of inspiration when the going gets tough. Love your youtube channel. :)

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

[Casey Truax]

A very true “meta” poem that just gets better as it progresses. I like the extended metaphor of the salmon. My favorite line: “the nuthouse yawns…”

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you Casey. I appreciate it.

[John Sullivan]

Bukowski would probably have loved this. As no stranger to the nuthouse, the cage, or the orchids, cheers.

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you, John. I appreciate it.

[red93]

Excellent Work Thomas - Writing is a Vocation, no doubt at all ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

[Thomas W Case]

Thank you so much for commenting.

[Chris Shaw]

Some sage advice here Thomas and conveyed in such a refreshing way. Loved your poem. Don’t fret the small stuff.

Chris

[Thomas W Case]

Exactly. Thanks, Chris.