When Poetry Is
A Merciless Master
____________
For those of us who feel her heel, poetry can be an unrelenting
master- or 'mistress'- for those who choose to see her gendered
and personified. I am one of them. Poetry seems like a friend
I often argue with, give parties for, pass out balloons and
sometimes lock the door to protect myself from her rages.
The written word has smitten me from the time I could listen
and recognize twinned sounds, magical matings of meaning and
symbolism or hear the masked highwaymen of thundering
metaphor and the sprites of simile, smooth and unctuous. It is
a living thing to me, always residing just inside the ear like
a tick or a flea to make me itch until I draw my pen across
the page and scratch it.
How can you tell if poetry is leading you by the nose? How
many times have you reached for a napkin to jot something
down-- or muttered a line over and over under your breath
when a pen is unavailable, trying to memorize the line until
you find one? How many nights have you lain awake, words
streaming through your brain like a dictionary's Aurora
Borealis, transfixed and helpless until you turn on
the light and begin to scribble?
I can attest to many a sleepless night gone wordy and
abstruse. I write until my eyes water, yawns lock my jaw and
the nightstand clock is ticking fretfully, eating up the hours
until dawn-- but most important to me-- it's always joy that
drives me. How can one say that poetry is a tyrant if one is
happy to bend and sway like a reed? Who would not feel
blessed to hear what, at times, sounds like
angels whispering into the ear?
Who would give up one day being driven to set it down,
get it right, when life itself has so few compelling appetites
that do not diminish as we age but rather grow and deepen?
Poetry may be master or mistress, but it's also the close
companion of years like an old friend who sometimes
becomes bossy or cranky, but has seen so much of life
with you and through your eyes-- you wouldn't
dream of parting ways.
So what's to be done when poetry
is a merciless master?
Rejoice~ that's the only answer. Rejoice and be thankful to
whatever gods have given out helpmates to get us through
to the other side. Open wide, take its
hand~ and let it lead you.
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