Jammed

 

Words backed up 

like a log jam 

before spring thaw.

“When words don’t come easy, I make do 

with silence and find something in nothing.”

~ Strider Marcus Jones, poet

The Quest

I’m not getting anywhere 

   on this quest to 

find the words. 

Words that sing, 

  that have meaning, 

    that wake me up. 

They lie dormant 

in their little beds 

only wanting to rest.

So I will acquiesce and let them be 

~ after I have finished this poem 

and said good night.

“Of your unspoken words you are the master; 

of your spoken word the servant; 

and of your written word the slave.”

~ Quaker proverb

In the Drift

Here I am 

on a blank page 

wondering 

which words go together 

too many words come at me 

all at once 

not blocked 

merely too many good ideas 

or were they really good?

or just a disparate word 

scribbled on the page with 

the oomph knocked out of it,

maybe even the why of it vanished.

“The clouds don’t overthink; they just drift.”

~ Avijeet Das, poet and writer

Thinner than Gauze

Did I write them down

   words that blink

 in phrases 

in ideas 

    from nowhere 

  and everywhere

Disconnected

  little stems 

   for story, 

     essay or

       poetry.

       

     ~~~~~

Little notebooks 

on table and desk, 

 filled with notes

  wise words

directions ~ how to shape ideas

  notes to self 

a grocery list for apples and oranges

 bills to pay

  phone numbers

    dates from messages

Not as cluttered as my thoughts

  ~ but close

At least notebooks are solid

  ~ thoughts are thinner than the finest gauze.

“Write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come 

unsought for are are commonly the most valuable.”

~ Francis Bacon

(1561~1626)

Hints

 

Another blank page

Words beg for release

Mere hints of poetry    

“There are no blank words. Just blank pages.”

                ~ Hadinet Tekie, poet and artist                            

This Narrow Moment

Late  

more words 

to spill 

onto the page 

fitting into 

this narrow moment 

bracketed by sleepy eyes.

“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.”

~ Homer,  The Odyssey

Nicely Done!

Nicely done!

Said with a smile 

when a task is complete 

with ease and efficiency

but it is those tasks done 

with steady on until the end

that definitely deserve a smile

and those little two words:

Nicely done!

“You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.”

~ Babe Ruth

(1895 ~ 1948)

Drift

 

Penning poetic words tonight sounded easy but when they kept spilling through my fingers to drift away, I was left to mutter ~       ‘writing is hard’!

“One day I will find the right words, and they will all be simple.”

~ Jack Kerouac,  The Dharma Bums

Found in the Clutter

 

“A diagnosis is important 

but it is not a person……..”

Exciting words scribbled

on a note left midst clutter

 ~ an anchor in my life. 

Diagnoses tucked neatly 

into a fold of my brain, 

while my vertebrae curve

And life goes on whether 

or not I fret and worry…

gratitude keeps me upright and calm

“[A] person is so much more than the name of a diagnosis on a chart.”

 ~ SharonM. Draper, educator

Ice Dream

There is a gap 

where words have forgotten 

to flow ~ all crowded at the edges 

like snow drifts around a frozen pond.

If I put on my white leather skates 

   with the sharp silver blades 

I could set out on the ice and 

carve a poem in it’s frigid surface. 

Tonight my skates don’t fit and 

the blades are dull. Tomorrow, 

I will skate under the blue sky 

as the sun sets in the west ~

a childhood dream that is 

the imagining of my heart.

“Everything you can imagine is real.”

~ Pablo Picasso