Poem o' the Day

My heart-sister NP threw a gauntlet today. It's sitting there at my feet, gleaming through the veil of dust it raised:

One of the things I find myself thinking about when I'm stuck on a story is what else I could be writing. I know this is my brain procrastinating, but I've come up with some interesting characters, plots, and settings as a result.

All this thinking has led me to a writing prompt, which I've altered slightly to fit NPM.

Write a poem about what you should be writing and what you wish you were writing right now.

My Muse is off in southern climes with my inspiration, having a good debauch without me. All I'm left with is a new home I haven't quite settled in to, a singularly unhelpful cat, and a DVR full of Hot Rocks. Poetry in my soul = 0.

And it's not like I was a great poet to begin with.

Crap in a hat.

Pour a glass of liquid courage. Turn off the DVR and put on the music. Argue with Firefox over the fact I'd like it to play music. Win argument by using nuclear option.

Here goes.

Writer's Block Blues
by Dana Hunter

Writing nothing much
Just laughing at politics
And smacking at fools.

Mind's been too silent
Worlds are so hard to create
When you're distracted.

Inspiration - ha!
It doesn't come standard, no

Nissan excepted.

(Well, not even on
One of those automobiles
I know - I own one.)

No inspiration
Just a memory of it
I remember awe.

Pulsing, pounding, hot
Volcanic eruptions of
Creative fury.

I remember gray
skies like pounded silver, harsh seas
Swimming hurricanes

These things I would write:
Veils of rain in the Sian
Wine in the Southlands.

Poetry wars and
the meaning of unity
Torn apart, made whole.

Love, laughter, pain, joy
Great themes and the little things,
Myths, legends, made real.

Ignorance stops me
Doing them justice takes time
So I pause to learn.

Every day, my thoughts
center on my characters.
All I do, for them.

I want to return
Wade in the Silver Serpent
Bring a world to life.

It won't be long now
before I know just enough
to return to them.

Then, do them justice:
The world, people and story
Those things I love most.

The things I should write
and the things I wish to write
Are one and the same.