Le Mot Juste

...inspiration from 'Preludes' by T.S. Eliot


Loose leaves rustle. 
The grey light of evening dips and sways. 
Evening birds bleat
their lonely tattoo. 
Gone are the jays and the wagtails, 
the burnt-out end of smoky days.

No fancy gadgets,
just a jar of pencils newly cut.
The clatter
of a typewriter
haunts the silence, like a 'pecker
jonesin' for nutrition, finding squat.

Curtains flutter.
She's shabbily dressed and thin. 
A lonely candle sputters 
and she struggles.
Notes and erasers jostle for space,
still no inspiration will brighten her face.

Coffee and cigarettes,
vodka and tears, and none will curb her fears
of ever grasping 
white from black,
light from limbo, the curse of the damned,
the neverland that has her clammed.

One word, one spark
of enlightenment nudges her back.
Exhilaration wracks her,
electricity whacks her
like a sharp evening breeze,
and her fingers are dancing all over the keys!
Copyright © | Year Posted 2009

Poem

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Wesley Avatar
July 20, 2012 at 8:54 PM
Mysterious with that touch of sadness to make the reader feel what you say. Last stanza is beautiful.
Richards Avatar
May 4, 2009 at 4:45 PM
Wow....incredible and so like TS Eliot....I can see her fingers flying, words at last coming alive...now with almost too much to say....this is terrific writing!! You nailed this....now..gotta go look up Prelude like Laurie said! :)
Ginn Avatar
May 4, 2009 at 2:24 PM
I so love the first stanza I did this stupid sigh thing through the whole thing. Going to have to look up Preludes now, I hate homework. Going in my favorites, mid afternoon sigh,,,not bad
Chircop Avatar
May 4, 2009 at 9:49 AM
i love thnat sharp evening breeze,fingers dancing all over the keys,llove this one----charma
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