Writer’s Block

Bob, , 
If at first, you draft
A poem,

To start, you say:

A yellow couch
Listens to John Cage.

Next, leave it
With the paint cans
In the cellar.

In a year, or two,
Go looking for it.

Without reading it,
Turn it over,
Start something new,
Like:

You found me
In the birdbath,

The rainwater 
Is shirtless.

That will never do.
It’s best to be desperate:

The universe 
Was swallowed
By a few words.

Long shadows 
Go to great lengths
In doorways.

For the better part of a decade
Put it with the dry
Beans in the back of 
The cupboard: 

The night arrives first
A pink ribbon
Of steel,
A headache of honey and blood.

Just abruptly end and hope no one
Notices:

Writing a poem
Is like finishing a knot, 

Or cutting a hole in a net
Before collecting butterflies.

13 thoughts on “Writer’s Block”

  6. Sunra Rainz's avatar Sunra Rainz says:

    I love this so much I can’t even tell you. Every line, every line. Long shadows go to great lengths…pink ribbon of steel…all of it, I savour ❤

    Like

    Reply

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