Inspiration

Tony Kushner wrote plays as a telephone operator, Kafka wrote stories at night after working as an insurance adjuster, Grisham penned court room dramas religiously for three years before being published. These playwrights and novelists and poets, Lived a dual existence- By day, They lived an ordinary existence, Maintaining a 9-5 or overnight shifts While balancing obligations like family, grocery shopping, taxes, rent or mortgage friends, bills, lovers At night, Undercover, In their precious time- They were on a lonely, thankless journey, Only their desk, the lamp and their pen and paper/typewriter/computer as company, Communing with their muse, Creating, Rewriting, editing, repeat Telling stories for the mere pleasure, to satisfy an Incurable hunger for their words, thoughts, voices To be expressed, considered, read, Without the guarantee of money, fame, recognition or success.. I remember them when verse rushes through my mind like an angry, swollen April river, That I forget the words as quickly as I conceive them, or I compose long winded poems with no direction, shape or grace. I remember them when procrastination and writer’s block Prevents me from writing for days, months or years, or when I hear that my high school nemesis is a doctoral Candidate in poetry I remember and thank them for giving my inspiration To continue.