Stopped poetry flow,
random thoughts just,
a long inhale.

Life comes pouring in,
shopping, reading, cooking,
cleaning, bus rides, family changes,
long awaited rescues, bee stings
receiving forgotten packages
ripping disappointments
on the heals of very good things.
David Letterman always
—appropriate and not
with a joke to help us all
not take ourselves so seriously.

Sometimes no verses
present themselves
for days on end.

Then
comes my
soul-emptying exhale
on steam plumes
issuing forcefully,
the geyser spring
of all I took in
steeped in my mind,
weaving my words
become lines
become verses again.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

The professional musicians, singers, lyricists, music writers, they all make it look so easy!

Half way, WOOHOO!! I am up to date, not up too late after posting #15 for RWP’s whimsical musical prompt for today. It hurt. But I wrote through the pain.

The pain came from all the preamble that was necessary to get to the writing. I had to choose from all my incomplete, semi- or fully-sucking poems to find one that lent itself to a rhythm.

I had to own my musical challenges when it came to making up a rhythm and sticking with it and writing words to it. It was easy to trash the rest of the poem that I drew from.

Fortunately, I know I need for poetry to drip from my fingers. That’s been since from time and when, and will continue until the last part of me ends. So I have no choice but to embrace it…I checked…my poetry and me are better together.

At any rate, it is done. I’ve made it this far, writing a poem a day. And, I’ve managed to write to the prompt, (or better, to my interpretations of the prompts), each day. But, who knows what tomorrow brings? I can say for certain, it’s a labor of love—and I’m loving it!

I couldn’t bring myself to put a third video in here, no matter how much I loved it. The point is, it’s a love/hate relationship and the love wins out. If it sounds familiar, “who knows what tomorrow brings” is the first line in Joe Cocker’s “Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong.”

The way I’m making it through these days, is skittish at best when I read the prompts. Then when I sit to write, something comes over me and I feel like I’m going to do this. And I just go with that flow. I think I’m catching my rhythm, especially since writing poems earlier.

Continuing my Goals to the End

Hopefully I’ll continue to stay on prompt, and read more and more poetry at RWP and other places in cyberspace. I’d also like to remember my idea for a theme I had for this month’s writing. Really, though, I’ll settle for the first too.