October 4: Surprise Me!

Surprise me! I wish you would

change night to day. 

Morning begins

another round of words,

a familiar litany

of aches and groans and 

last night’s doubt:  

Why do I write?

The story first, then comes revision,

that torturing of inspiration with rules,

subject/verb agreement being least and last

or even lost 

in that moment

when my words bring tears.

I knew a writer who burned

two years of work in a single night.   

“Too many voices,” he said. He wanted

to write literature. He wanted fame.

There is no talking about this.

I build a story word by word. Bedrock.

‘Tis enough to face down doubt,

To balance inspiration with craft and discipline.

I make my own morning.

I make my own rules.

I tell stories. I write.

NOTE: This rather harsh poem came from today's OCTPOWRIMO. "Surprise me! Consider those moments you have said, “This is just the way I write poetry” and write differently. Close your eyes and think about the place where rules and inspiration meet." I would have loved to write something more inspirational. All I could think of was e.e.cummings' lovely poems without any capital letters. And those writers I have known who struggle to write at great cost. Who one day simply stop writing. This I can barely imagine. Before I retired, my writing always came between other commitments. Now I have the luxury of mornings and online writing communities of readers and writers. Hooray!

See what others have written for Octpowrimo: