Stare at the white page...
there's nothing there, and
nothing is what
will come from it.
Better to engage
a rainmaker,
a dancer or
someone who prays
or seeds the clouds
with silver iodide,
dry ice or flares.
We need a shower
of good ideas
or just ideas.
I knew a man,
brain damaged,
wrote like you or I -
as long as there
was something
written on the page.
But if he spoke his thought
he could not write it down.
It's habit forming, too.
The water when it comes
does not seem good enough,
still smells, is brackish
or discoloured. So
we let it run a while
then as we go to use it
it runs out.
It was Robert Lloyd at Poets United who suggested Writers Block as a topic.
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20 comments:
Not that I suspect you have any commerce with the subject - it appears you turn on the tap and the sweetest music flows ... (or please can I have my delusions?)
Great poem Mr King
Dave,
True enough! Writer's block can happen anytime. Has it to do with tiredness that it becomes zero. Just brackish water! Frustrating!
Hank
I suspect that writer's block comes in waves, Dave. I find I can pretty well always get out words onto a page, but I cannot always get the words to offer meaning in the way I want them.
Great poem here, as ever.
What a feat to write about writer's block and not catch it yourself! Well done. I really like these images. Comparing it to a drought it also nice.
Hi Mr Dave,excellent poem,really like it.
I remembered someone wrote that "water has no color and multi-color." I saw some color on the white page.
I enjoyed this, the irony of it is wonderful.
That last bit sums it up and is brilliant.
I love the your take on this prompt~
I love your poem, the brackish water, the imagery~ Very Clever; well done~
I have suffered from writers' block for months Dave - it is obvious from this poem that you do not suffer from it at all.
Not many blank white pages in your environment, I think.
Did your last verse have anything to do with your local water difficulties;-)
Excellent poem David. I like the ending :)
Yup. That's all. Nothing profound or insightful. Just YUP. (well, and maybe that is why I am headed for my painting for a spell!)
That's about the gist of it :-).
Hi Dave! Good to see you at Poets United, one of my favorite "haunts" (now that is nearly Halloween). Sometimes it does seem like a rainmaker is necessary in order to get our writing juices free flowing. And a shower of good ideas definitely does not hurt.
Yep. That pretty much covers it!
Oh, I love the last stanza. Definitely captures the wait for that elusive Muse!
Excellent, and I could really relate!
I'm waiting for a brainstorm it seems too many times!
Isabel
Wow! I wish... but of course I'll allow you your delusions - so long as you realise that that's what they are. Thank you for your very kind words.
kaykuala
I think it's simply running out of ideas, a misnomer. I don't think anything is blocked. The reservoir is empty.
Elisabeth
Yes, that I can understand. That is a more complex issue, I think, but I'm not sure that it's what most folk mean when they speak of writers block. Thanks for the comment.
Tabor
Many thanks for your generous comment. It's more a drought than a blockage, I think.
sunny
Thanks sunny. Much appreciated.
haricot
An intriguing comment that opens up all manner of lines of thought. Thank you very much for it.
ArtistUnplugged
Thank you, a thought-provoking comment.
Carl
Useful feedback. Thanks again.
Ella
Hi Good to be hearing from you. Thank you for your very welcome comment.
The Weaver of Grass
It used to be an almost permanent condition. Or I thought it was. It was only when I began to work to deadlines - often self-imposed, like posting daily - that I began to get on top of it. Even so, I am "blocked" (wrong word) until the eleventh hour. Then something comes - usually!
jabblog
Interesting question. A while ago I discovered an extensive and very complex chalked scene on the square. It covered pretty much the whole of the area and was very imaginative. It looked like a cross between a work of art, pure and simple, and a child's game - numbered squares as for hopscotch, for example. I produced a series of poems on this. Almost as soon as I was launched upon the series, however, the workmen arrived and complicated the scene still further with their excavations. My earlier post owes more to the childrens' drawing than to the water troubles.
Poetry and Icecream
Hi. Welcome to my blog. Many thanks for your input.
Jeanette
I might just interpret that as profound and insightful! Thanks for it.
Windsmoke
I'll settle for the gist!
Mary
Always good to meet up, wherever that may occur. Thanks for the response. As always, much appreciated.
Mama Zen
I am happy with that. Thanks.
Judith
A warm welcome to you. Thanks for visiting and for your comment.
Madeleine
Strange beings, these muses!
Philip
Hi Good to have your visit. Many thanks for the comment. Maybe you should try to anticipate the brainstorm?
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