Story Poem, Nr.09 — A Testy Relationship With The Muse

Awesome write! I dig👏👏
Love the structure and evocative verses
with tremendous depth👏
"Had heard Earth do breathing before …
She branches into seeds so small, among lichens, insects, moths, birds …
all kingdoms who never slept."
Reminded me of a realization I had while under the influence of mushrooms
Love this piece! So well written👏

Thank you H.R - and for the applause. It was a testing write, (for which Johnny Blaze must be blamed)  :))

'Around a dozen times, pockets of morning doom-thought floated by
as in night-water grappling with something dark, but white."

precisely, this is my anxiety. but i prefer to think of it as words bottled up and rattling around than words dropping out from a block. in a roundabout way helps me accept the pacing of anxiety before a potential spill.

well done, didn't even recognize it was from a scrambled poem!

Hi Haley, I think a certain amount of 'anxiety' is both inevitable and necessary in the creative process. Even seasoned actors have pre-stage nerves but admit it gives them an edge to performance. So acceptance of it all is just part of the process.

Feels like the ghost of fleeting thoughts that try to slip away experience. The muse is always the boss...frustrating for the writer, to be sure

Thank you Willow, I find it always humbling to experience 'no muse inspiration' - a fairly regular reminder of (as you say) who is boss. I reckon it's the experience of anyone involved in creative work. But oh-so worth it in the end.

Well done usage of all the words, Josh!

Ahavati and I have yet to grow back enough brain cells to double check your entry.

Thank you Johnny. I hope I've got it right. I printed out the list of words and worked through several sheets ticking the words off with several versions. {one of the hardest comps to date}

Lawd! You made it look easy, Josh! Well done!  Next to Dr. Seuss, this had to be the most difficult comp challenge I've ever faced!  That includes those of forms!  My brain was scrambled. Tell me, was this easy for you as it reads?!

First thing I did was type up all the words, alphabetically - and then phonetically. I stared at the two lists and started writing down phrases (even if words were used more than once). "Light my Fire" (I'm a great Doors fan) sprang to mind as an opening line, and gave me the idea for a theme on relating to the muse. And I took it from there. The first (many) attempts always left me with several surplus prepositions and other similar small words. The hardest word to use was 'doom'.  
When I thought I had 'got it' I ticked off the words and still had four unused; adding them in required further shuffling but the theme remained constant and prevented me from throwing it all out and restarting from scratch.  
And yes, it was the hardest comp I've done (apart from Dr Seuss which for some reason I just couldn't get into the right mode with, so had to give it a pass - partly also due to a flu bug over Christmas).  
As a comp challenge though, it was really interesting and engaging to do.  :))

Happy to hear that! I thought I'd lose my mind! LOL!

Your Muse may be testy, but she inspired (hopefully) these fine lines.  Excellent work, Josh.

Thank you Crowfly, quite a few lost hours sleep on this one  :))  but the result is interesting after such a challenging engagement.

i find this so very different from my overall du reads ..though havent read much of you Josh, blame me! powerfully graphic & loaded with visuals emotions & evokes somethings allthings that  needs to be somehow faced on passed on buried upon still loved on lived on..am actually wordless & juz admiring the minimalism here! not connecting with the comp. & its rules..it makes a stunning read dear Poet! kudos ..

Hi, thank you Anonymous for reading and commenting. I guess part of the unusual imagery comes from the comp rules of being 'forced' to use a set of 80 words from a scrambled poem. I'm looking forward to knowing what the original poem was/is. It was a very interesting 'exercise' on word-smithing to do.