National Poetry Day is a great opportunity to get re-inspired.
Poetry inspires us by getting to the heart of it all. Suddenly we see things in a different light, we think and feel in a new way and then become renewed ourselves. We all need constant inspriation in our work, as a way of connecting with ourselves as well as an alternative to the constant busy “doing.”
As it is National Poetry Day today I am publishing a poem. Having recently read it in a blogging workshop I feel more encouraged to let it see the light of day!
To my creative self
I thought at first that you liked things Done Properly
You know, new notebook, Time to Do It,
Focus, Discipline, and bingo, Results.
But I knew that wasn’t me so I tried to outwit
you, disarm you, prove I was right.
a poem on the back of a bus ticket
in a scruffy diary, while I was walking
painting my bedroom wall, travelling somewhere,
drawing in the margin of my work life.
And all the time you were just with me,
Wherever I was.
And now I have acknowledged you
Given you proof of your existence
Enjoyed the flash of recognition between us
The matching of equals
Now I feel your stubborn ness.
You’re not going anywhere.
It doesn’t matter how I do it
You won’t be shaken off
You are holding me fiercely
But that’s not enough for you
You need more
You want us to be together side by side
Step by step.
I don’t yet know how to be a partner
With you
my creative self.
© Jean Wolfe
January 2003