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Discombobulation, A Frustration

In words, straight from this writer's heart ~
my soul, or some other sensitive anatomical part,
I consider a poem a failure, without success
when poetry readers consider it a bloody mess.
Sometimes I write in the midst of discombobulation.
It's catharsis in a bottle of ink to a confuzzled mind.
Relief to me when I'm puzzled, not when I am blind
for to see what others don't, soothes my frustration.

In my thoughts, black and white scenes are flitting. 
There's an urgent need of color, but none seem fitting
that my pen and ink consider worth transcribing.
It's discombobulating for me, as if I'd been imbibing.
Trying to sound cohesive when using clever metaphor
can weigh me down until I am prone, crying on the floor.
There are themes in some contests that seem ill-defined,
when I've no clue about a subject and I feel confined.

I'm drowning in quicksand, and no one can pull me out.
It's grimly perplexing to be filled with such brooding doubt.
My words begin to ramble, and I get lost in a blunder fest.
Seriously, it's a conundrum. About this woe, I wouldn't jest.
I wind up scribbling sonnets without meter or hint of rhyme.
A saturnine absurdity and a complete waste of my time.
An infinity of feckless, ineffectual lines without vitality,
so much so that my poem winds up N/Ad. Another fatality.

I need to find a way to make other poets savor the taste
of what I breathe in and then exhale so that it's interlaced
with profound meaning that others might comprehend,
instead of mere words on a page, that no editor could mend.
I don't mind constructive criticism. I'd be a foolish ingrate
to not accept well-meaning advice. Wisely, I'd contemplate
changing the course of a poem that simply doesn't mesh.
I'm not so discombobulated to realize when I need to refresh.

Copyright © Lin Lane | Year Posted 2024

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Jerry Brotherton Date: 1/24/2024 6:38:00 PM I know this is probably fiction because I could not imagine your talent would ever leave you discombobulated, my friend. But I will give you the same advice a brilliant poet once gave me. You are the only one that you have to please. Have a glorious day, my friend/. Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 1/25/2024 4:29:00 AM I'm honored by your kind compliments, Jerry. I haven't yet reached a point where I feel so confused to give up on something I've started... poetry, a painting or anything else. That advice is excellent! It doesn't matter who approves or disapproves, as long as I'm content with a finished poem or painting... it's done. Thank you.

Hilda Greenhough Date: 1/24/2024 4:10:00 PM No need to worry. You do good, though I admit, some of my writes found the trash can. Ideas are endless anyway. Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 1/24/2024 4:17:00 PM Thanks for your encouragement, Hilda. I’ve many poems whose lines never leave a notebook or a computer file.

Tom Cunningham Date: 1/24/2024 1:11:00 PM Sometimes we all find ourselves in that situation, trying to force it just doesn't work. Its amazing how your mind works though, I've often gone to bed with an idea and next morning I awake bits of the puzzle start filtering through. Good luck in the contest Lin. Tom Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 1/24/2024 4:15:00 PM Thanks, Tom. Doubtful of this one finding it’s way on the list and I can’t blame it on being discombobulated. Just a little insight though, on occasionally writing for an ambiguous theme. It’s the challenge, not the result that matters most to me.

Jay Narain Date: 1/24/2024 10:39:00 AM My teachers used to tell me, when discombobulated, you should take a break. And it used to work, in my case. Nice poem with so many poetic terms which I hardly understand, Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 1/24/2024 10:47:00 AM Jay, your teacher's advice is good to follow. I can’t imagine what words are poetic terms that you can’t understand.