Friday, June 02, 2006

Attitude Adjustment

The muse is not dead,
just tired from working
under a hot South Carolina Sun.
She complained,
a poem a day was sweat-shop labor
(I reminded her
she did get most weekends off).
Not good enough, so
I took her to a real job,
where sweat felt good in a rogue breeze,
thirst wasn’t metaphorical, and
red dust hung in your nostrils,
like bats in a cave.
Going back today
to clean up some odds and ends,
next week her keyboard and screen
will look like a lover she thought was lost.

23 comments:

Beverly said...

very good :)

camera shy said...

wonderful piece

perhaps all our muses should engage in some hard manual labor

Joyce said...

I like poems about muses. A painter on our list has a muse called Renfrew and she has described him in minute detail. Someday I'll contact mine.

In the meantime, more about the muse would be nice. It's kind of like writing about writing, I think.

MB said...

Nothing like a little time apart to renew one's love, gratitude and inspiration.

Kai said...

excellent.....
i love the 2last lines

sage said...

that South Carolina sun will do you in every time.

Elena Horowitz-Brookes said...

Pat, This is fantastic! The whole concept of taking your muse to a real job because she was complaining about being overworked. And the end was absolutely great! Another (out did yourself) poem. Thanks!

Lukas Abrhm said...

don't i know the feeling.
always better when you walk away
even when things are dying to get out
and you come back finally...
and when it rains, it pours.

floots said...

as others have already said
loved the whole thing
and
those last two lines
so apposite
so poignant

Tupelo Honey said...

well pat, fabulous again!

I'm thinkin...of the muses, Calliope is the only poet muse who may have a beef over a poem a day...if it were any of the others, they're just being whiny...a good wake up call for them!

Unknown said...

"red dust hung in your nostrils,
like bats in a cave" Fabulous image, that. Give that muse a good talking-to, hear?

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

same as what they all have said! you sure get a lot of traffic! :)

Russell Ragsdale said...

Glad to be on your fan bandwagon! The tone is changing a little, it seems to me, but I like it very much.

Pris said...

Love it! Esp the last two lines.

(I grew up in South Carolina. Yes, I know that heat. Are you from around there?)

Pat Paulk said...

Beverly, thank you!!

Camera Shy, it is a good idea, except, we have to work with them.

Joyce, I guess it is writing about writing. Sometimes that's all there is. Thank you!!

Mb, you are sooo right!!!

Kai, thank you!!

Sage, I'd stay away from it if the mortgage company would let me.

Lukas, sometimes you just have to. thank you!!

Boulies, she was getting out of hand. She's much better today! Thank you!!

Floots, thanks!!

Thanks Shannon!! We all need to be woke up sometime.

Christine, she's in a much better mood today. Thanks!!

Thanks Andrew!!

Thanks Russell!! My muse knows no shame, or barriers. I do have to edit her from time to time.

Thanks Pris!! No, I grew up in Brunswick, Ga. Same heat and bugs!!!

Anonymous said...

Muse Abuse, plain and simple. A classic case, really. Pat, she's been in contact with me this entire past week, frantically telling me her woes. She's down to, like, two pounds from starvation, says you won't let her eat until she's written a brilliant piece for you. She says she never gets out, you won't even let her get a haircut, which is why her locks are practically dragging to the ground. It's so pathetic. I told her I'm setting up a get-away, a refuge if you will, for all the muses you've abused in the past. I'm sending her air fare, I'll come down there if need be to rescue her. Maybe then you'll learn how to treat a muse properly you MUSE ABUSER YOU.

polona said...

i was just trying to say something clever about your reluctant muse but AA's comment has left me speechless...

Pat Paulk said...

If you recall, correctly, I'm the one that's been giving YOUR runaway muses safe haven!! Mine are free to leave whenever they want (unfortunately they do all too often).

Anonymous said...

If YOU recall, my muses don't run away, they are KIDNAPPED. And then brainwashed. They start writing poems that say "Y'all", and sobbing for grits. I think it's called Stockholm Syndrome.

Pat Paulk said...

Polona it left me almost speechless!! The last poor, pitiful muse that escaped from her EVIL clutches came crawling to the door, starving and naked without a letter left in its tiny belly.

Carol said...

The Muse is definitely not dead!

Lukas Abrhm said...

funny...muse and stockholm syndrome in the same sentence.
should listen to the song "stockholm syndrome" by Muse now to get the full effect.
there it is.

Anonymous said...

beautiful