I am trying to write a poem, without success, I must add...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

My muse has abandoned me!

Help me find her...

:-(

[DarkTirade]

1. Sometimes the verse just won't go

and sometimes the words won't flow
there's often no rhyme or reason
to a rhyme's migration for a season
but before we declare this a loss or rout
can you tell us what the poem is about?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear DarkTirade...

Now, that's very clever, and even better, you made me smile...

Thank you!

What's it about?

Something along the lines of a couple having a family and my pondering just where children come from...

But way more poetic than my description!

The words are just too clunky tonight...

Damn.

:P

[DarkTirade]

4. Perhaps you could toy with the words a bit

and fashion them in diff'rent styles tonight
sometimes one tries too hard to make them right
and all too often pick at every nit.

A limerick or sonnet form could do
in places where your normal style does not
With diff'rent styles you could unstick your thought
and find yourself creating something new.

Alas, my thoughts have run their course for now
'though sonnet form demands a longer run
so I must babble on until its done
to fit the style of poem I allow.

But now I find I reach the final verse
This dragging on is lifted, gone my curse!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Ah, that's lovely...

Sonnets are not my thing, alas...

But thank you!

I appreciate your efforts...

:hug:

[DarkTirade]

6. Still, sometimes it does help to look at it from a different angle

try something different. Perhaps a shape poem. Or some kind of restriction on meter or rhyme. Sometimes it forces you to think outside the box and that helps you get jump-started. :)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Good ideas, all!

The old stuff just isn't coming along...

The old ways...

:pals:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. oh dear. Can't help you there Miss Peg. I don't look for mine.

She just appears like vapor or mist or a will of the whisp. Give it a rest and come back to it after a spell ;) :hug: :hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. My dear Tuesday Afternoon!

I usually don't look for mine, either...

But I am now because I need to do some writing...

She's had plenty of rest, dammit!

I am frustrated...

But thanks for coming by tonight, sweetie...:hug:

[ismnotwasm]

9. A muse?

Do you have a junk drawer? Clothes you're not sure why you ever bought? A serendipitous meeting with an old friend or acquaintance? Every wonder about dark matter, and why the the physics of the universe don't quite add up? Is the answer really a choice between a fine tuner (some would call God) or a multiverse? (I don't buy it, I like a lot of choices)

We are God's dice-- to answer Einstein. (That's from a Scifi novel called Cyteen)


Here's a potential muse from a street sign I stole "PROSTITUTION AND DRUG WATCH AREA License Numbers Are being Recorded (I know stories from this particular street. I think I'll hang the sign in my bathroom)

Or my favorite line from a Neil Young song; What is the color when black is burned?

She's everywhere. Right now she lives in a piece of art I have that is the reproduction of a Quaalude bottle. I want the same technique for David Bowie's mugshot (He's beautiful) but can't afford it right now.

You have to see the muse in a David Bowie mugshot
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/bowiemug1.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. My dear ismnotwasm...

Very cool...

I love David Bowie's mug shot...

And of course I have a junk drawer!

:P

Thanks, sweetie...

[emilyg]

11. There once was a lad from....

Never mind.:hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. My dear emilyg!

Lol!

Thank you, sweetie...:hug:

[Lionel Mandrake]

13. The terror of a blank sheet of paper

or a NEW file in a word processor can produce paralysis, but not for long.

The muse will return. The words will appear. All will be well.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. My dear Lionel Mandrake!

I certainly hope so!

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

I actually rather enjoy the new file in my word processor, all blank and ready for my imprint!

But for sure I am paralyzed.

Hopefully not for long, thank you...

:hug:

[kayakjohnny]

15. Hi CaliforniaPeggy! Hey, try this little tool. It's fun and inspirational.

Either type in something of your own, or let it throw some randomness at ya. Hope it helps. Cheers.


http://www.visuwords.com/

[CaliforniaPeggy]

18. My dear kayakjohnny!

How clever is that!

I just bookmarked it, and I know it will come in handy...

Thank you so much!

:hi:

[CreekDog]

16. Always thought the song "Chelsea Morning" was about writing and inspiration

Woke up, it was a chelsea morning, and the first thing that I heard
Was a song outside my window, and the traffic wrote the words
It came a-reeling up like christmas bells, and rapping up like pipes and drums

Oh, wont you stay
Well put on the day
And well wear it till the night comes

Woke up, it was a chelsea morning, and the first thing that I saw
Was the sun through yellow curtains, and a rainbow on the wall
Blue, red, green and gold to welcome you, crimson crystal beads to beckon

Oh, wont you stay
Well put on the day
Theres a sun show every second

Now the curtain opens on a portrait of today
And the streets are paved with passersby
And pigeons fly
And papers lie
Waiting to blow away

Woke up, it was a chelsea morning, and the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey and a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses
Oh, wont you stay
Well put on the day
And well talk in present tenses

When the curtain closes and the rainbow runs away
I will bring you incense owls by night
By candlelight
By jewel-light
If only you will stay
Pretty baby, wont you
Wake up, its a chelsea morning

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. My dear CreekDog!

Oh, thank you!

I hadn't read this one before, and I love the imagery!

Very nice indeed...

:hug:

[Arugula Latte]

17. Roses are red

Violets are blue
Peg's mind is blocked
Like a tube of dried glue.

Hope you get inspired soon!
:hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. My dear Oregonian!

LOL!

That's very cute, and I thank you!

The glue is dissolving as we speak!

:hi:

[MineralMan]

19. Here's one

There once was a poetry machine.
'Twas painted all yellow and green.
For years it worked fine,
Turned out line after line,
'Til it choked on an alexandrine.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

22. My dear MineralMan!

Oh, that's too cute! I love it...

I'll be sure to stay the heck away from any alexandrines! :scared:

I thank you...

:hi:

[MineralMan]

23. Glad ya liked it.

I wrote that in 1972 in a limerick competition in my Poetry class in college. It didn't win. Someone wrote a clever risque one. Such is life!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. My condolences!

You know what they say: Sex sells!

:hug:

[LisaM]

25. I think that you've chosen a subject that is too obviously poetic

I'm not sure that I can explain what I mean, exactly. My SO's aunt used to write poetry when she was alive. Much of it was terrible, partly because she wanted her poetry to be theological, so she would directly reference God, and God's love, and blah blah blah all the way through. Her subject was unoriginal, and her poems didn't work as poems (if they'd had good meter, they probably could have worked as hymns). The few that were successful, IMO, dealt with her reaction to more mundane subjects, such as sweeping the kitchen floor of their cabin, and no matter how many times she did it, one little bug would come back. It was an interesting poem because you could relate the concept of trying to get everything clean, and everything in order, and there were always some little things that you just couldn't control - it transcended its actual subject to make a larger point, and it wasn't corny and sentimental like most of her work.

In your case, I think that wondering "where children come from" (I assume you mean in a more spiritual way) isn't really something that will give the reader anything to think about. It's more of the "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" variety. You may find that you get where you're going by describing something one of the subject children has done that illustrates a larger point.

Just my two cents.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

26. My dear LisaM!

Well, I didn't describe what I was trying to do very well...

Partly because I didn't want to give anything away...

And partly because I hadn't figured out how to actually do it!

But I sure do appreciate your input...Too bad about your SO's aunt. I try to not have a "message." I just want to open the door and let the words out...

And last night, that damn door was stuck closed and I was frustrated!

Funny thing: I was listening to some music, and a guitar piece caught my attention...the next thing I knew, the words were pouring out of me.

And today they still look good ...

Thank you!

:hug:

[Inchworm]

27. Passionate kisses, fire, and the smell of dirt

sometimes gets them back :D

:hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. My dear Inchworm!

Mmmmmm....passionate kisses!

And I haven't had any yet this morning!

Where is my husband???

Great music also can be very inspirational!

I heard some wonderful classical guitar last night, and the flood gates opened!

And what I wrote still looked good today...;)

Thanks, sweetie!

:hi:

[RandomThoughts]

29. Finding the muse.

When the world was, as it was
and now as before.

Flying high, diving low
flowing hair in rain and snow.
light on the wing
we dance and sing.
days, years, hard to know.

The turn of a key
so simple to see,
holding that one theme,
life, a beautiful dream.


Muse once again here.
I realize she was always near.