“Creative writingese, I have to say, was often in evidence. There were so many stories that were well observed, well crafted, full of well-honed phrases; so many rhythmic, allusive, technically sophisticated stories that knew when to leave matters unresolved and when it was right to bring matters to a dramatic climax; so many stories that had everything one could wish for in a story… except for the sense that it had to be written, that it was necessary. This was what I expected and perhaps feared: a widespread, humorless, bloodless competence.” ~ Salman Rushdie, regarding editorship of Best American Short Stories

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Recorded Reading (3:18): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q0oixkcferd7d0bbt36lr/Inspiration-to-Write.mp3?rlkey=e2mu8k6t456gxqft8e7y95tcb&st=6xry6jjx&dl=0

*****

Inspiration to Write

We study, exercise and sweat
Hoping conversant to get
With our written language, so
Readers afterward may know

Resonance effortlessly
With each heartfelt message we
Offer conscientiously
So clearer they their own hearts see

And thusly enabled be
Resolve conflict harmon’iously…
And then, one evening, we find out
That we have run ourselves right out

Of personal experience
Others’ living to enhance ~
Try as we might to engage
With a stubbornly blank page

We hold our heads in desperation
For a little inspiration:
We’ve developed all the skill
Now put to it all our will

Meet the Muse’ destined appointment
Meeting naught but disappointment ~
Now that we have made a way,
What is it that we should say?

For me, whenever I find
My sad self fast in this bind
My frustration me propels
To listen to somebody else!

Out of my self absorbed rut
Trolling to discover what
Daily life might seem to be
For that person next to me

That one certainly is wired
That one isn’t ~ they’re just tired
This one’s searching all around
For something they lost on the ground…

And, you know what? It never fails
Inspiration me avail
When I take time to listen to
Someone else’s point of view

Heroic stories surround us ~ bold
Heroes dramas of untold
Quietly beside us on
Whatever path we’ve set upon

Yes, you may depend on it
Whatever place you might see fit
To walk, or lounge, or stand, or sit,
The grimness, glory, grace and grit

An “ordinary” pathway on
Rivals anything upon
The formulaic, standardized
Caricatures by which apprised

We feel we are of other lives
By which ~ surprise! ~ we’re ne’er surprised
Feeling content
Each element

Ends up stored where it belong
Rights with the right, wrongs with the wrong
By virtue of media’s power
In something less than half an hour

Discover in each interview
The dramas which have passed by you
Till that moment which had been
Undetected and unseen

Tremendous sacrifice, lost love
And shattered hopes you will learn of
Dedication’s grimmest price
Life saved by some good advice

So many stories surround you
Practically begging to
Be told ~ no need to dither and perspire
To find what may you well inspire

*****

This poet presently lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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