Sparrow like, I rustle
through the leaves
of paper,
pecking the letters necessary
for nouns,
verbs,
feelings
to form
into coherent thought
and poetry.
I race to the altar,
chastising the weakness
of commas
and the flailing about of hyphens.
Praying that the muse
of some kinda important god
will deem me worthy,
crowning my mind with the olive branch
of
something….
(See, there was something there…
just there..
waiting to be written
or born
or thought.)
Dang it.
Shuffling again
into my old shoes,
kicking up dusty old phrases
and worn out metaphors,
I scatter seed for the birds.
thecourseofourseasons 
Praying that the muse
of some kinda important god
will deem me worthy,
crowning my mind with the olive branch
Interesting – both sides of struggle, well penned.
Writing does not come easily sometimes..I like the “crowning of the mind” …it is like shuffling and kicking until something fits into place 😉
brilliant! I love that your hyphens flail about – I chuckled over that one
Hoho – you nailed it! I live this poem regularly. Brilliant!
LOL. I am right there with you……….when writing is for the birds, go scatter some seeds. Hee hee. You wrote a poem with which I can completely resonate. I love the kicking up of the dusty old phrases.
Nice! I especially like the flailing hyphens. Peace, Linda
What a totally delightful poem. I love your play on writing or rather not writing. Brilliant and it made me smile!
very onamatomaic. good job!!
This is wonderfully visual–love it!
I know! It seems I never have a piece of paper when the great thoughts strike.
Nancy
Haha- when I feel jaded with writing, there’s always the birds… I shuffle out to the deck, where the sunflower seed bin resides, clearing away the cobwebs of confused thought, so I can go back to rustling among the words… I love the imagery, and the sense of frustration we all feel when the words are hanging back, tempting us, teasing. Forced words are cold for me, so I wait until they are ready to be plucked… Verbs are so juicy!
This is marvelous–love the flailing hyphens!!
I love the use of birds like rustling and pecking and applying it to writing ~ I too am prone to using the same old metaphors ~ And love that ending too ~ I am looking forward to seeing those birds nearby in coming spring days ~
Ha.. yes sometimes it takes a lot of energy to rustle for words.. I really like the image of the birds here.. and yes you did so well removing all those adjectives..
Ah.. to not think is the delight to create.. and to create is sometimes to think about not creating as well..:)
Oh, the dang when those words won’t come – I love your very rustling, very busy little scamper through the leaves…
Often I rail at myself when I favor certain words or phrases too often; perhaps relative to writing so profusely. And yet, even though there is nothing new under the sun, it is our perceptual personal take on it that gives it glow & worth. Like Alan Ladd who claimed that once a day he created a good look, a fine moment on film; if we manage a line, a phrase, a stanza that stands out dripping with insight & originality, we have championed the moment, & harnessed the untamed verbs.
Glenn, you always leave me the most thoughtful and intensely wonderful comments – I appreciate each and every word – K
I could just see a sparrow scratching about the leaves and coming up with a big huge verb! Then flying to the keyboard and hopping about writing. Shaking its head at the commas and rustling its wings at the hyphens. And then pecking at seeds as its reward. This was a delight. I’m a sucker for birds, cats, and dogs….
And I love that wonderful little story you have just given me – thank you!
You are welcome. This poem made me smile all kinds of ways.
What a smile I have. You gave life to the grammar gods and, like you, I feed the birds first thing in the morning and then they give me inspiration in return.
It gives me great delight to have made you smile – thank you, Victoria, for all your kindnesses – I wish you and your dear husband all the best.
you had me at “rustle” bravo!
🙂
I think it is very easy to shuffle into one’s old shoes & kick up worn out metaphors, but we need to occasionally fight to overcome this tendency & implore our sometimes lazy muse to come up with something different. Smiles.
Chastising the weakness of commas is what I need to do more…lol. Delightful despite your frustration. 😉
sometimes it takes some rustling through the leaves but eventually – there’s always something waiting to be written… so true…and in all that scattering seeds for the birds is a good thing..smiles