When the well has run dry
it comes without warning.
The tongue swells in your cheek,
thick and livid, so that
your words no longer speak.
When the well has run dry,
you curse Providence for
this damming of the source
of such early growth. You
rail. Yet it is, of course,
when the well has run dry
that the real work begins.
This is the place you give
yourself to the long task
of learning how to live
when the well has run dry,
the daily love affair
with hardy words you kiss
into unlikely soil
to bloom up from the dust.
8 comments:
Written from the perspective of one who knows, not a bit of this rang false. I like the idea that when the well runs dry, the real work begins. That wellspring can be too cushy and sometimes you need to be pushed out of the plane. As Redd Foxx once said of Lenny Bruce "Heroes aren't born, they're cornered." Inspiration isn't summoned, it's grabbed in midflight on its way to someone else. Grab it! Wonderful poem.
can see the flow of a double thread woven here
I agree that when the well runs dry, the real work begins--said with heart and understanding--
Don't know if you were referencing it, but there's an old blues that goes 'you don't miss your water/till your well runs dry,' (and also, you don't have to, of course.) But not everything we get from wherever they come from, these words, is easy, a gift--that's why I think so many poets, artists, writers and musicians use themselves up at a young age and never understand the rest of it--that you have to dig deep after the first shallow pool evaporates. My I've gone on, here--apologies--you can probably tell I enjoyed this very real and intense write. As a friend once said, 'when all else fails, write about writing about it.'
this works great in reality but also in a metaphorical sense as well....when the creative well runs dry we would rather hide than speak....this is really well penned...
Ahh... the last stanza really sticks with me.
Hi Andrew
I was not certain I would get involved with this April Platform Challenge .. but here I am on Day 7 playing catch up from Day 1. My hesitation .. ready for this? .. was that I was reluctant to open a Twitter account... decided to go for it... and discovered I already had one... Sometimes the things that we fear beginning are the things that we've already done? I suppose there's a lesson here to be learned .. but it is eluding me at present. I think that it is already clear that I delight in your poetry. As far as using the "blog" in 'other ways"... I am reticent myself in terms of "personal musings" .. then again I might find a hidden on-line journal that I was unaware I had opened. Hope you get whatever you would like to gain from this challenge. Incidentally.. this poem is as usual absolutely lovely... (isn't that a tepid word?... lovely? Actually I used to really enjoy it.. and now find myself apologizing for its use.. neverthless lovely it is..) And now, thank you my friend I can hit "done" on today's portion of the April Challenge.
Thanks for visiting, Pearl, and for your kind words! This April Platform Challenge is certainly stretching me. Like you, I'm not entirely sure how to use all this new social media stuff - it's been fun to be pushed out of the nest in the past week. See you on Twitter!
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