I thought, What should I write about today? And I came up with what I think is a pretty good poem. As a writer, I’m always hoping my main character will help guide me through his or her story, leading me to its resolution down what can sometimes be a long and circuitous road. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. When they don’t. it’s usually my fault, and it goes a little something like this.
The blank screen of a fresh page mocks
Amid nothing besides night’s darkness and
The tick of a ceaseless clock.
Time travels onward,
A cycle that toys with the mortal,
While my characters, annoyed,
Sit trapped aboard
A London double-decker.
I consider ending them, all of them,
Right here,
The delete button
My own personal wrecker.
“You’re a hypocrite,” I hear the main character yell.
“First you invite us–my family and I–into your mind.
‘Your story’s fascinating,” you say.
“One I want to tell.’
And now you threaten us with extinction
Because you have yet to find
Literary distinction,
And you’re not sure we’ll get you there.
Well, fine,
We know when we’re wanted,
And when we’re wasting our time.
We will gladly vacate your mind
And find among your writery lot
Another aspiring writer,
One who’s got
The guts to give us our due,
Who won’t give up
When the edits get tough
Or when the words get stopped up
And won’t flow.”