"Metaphor?" What for? It's
so intellectual! An acrobat
expresses muscle mem'ry
rather as if automatic'ly
plugging into all there is
--and was--of Life. See
results, not the process
never meant to impress
but very simply, just to be.
Muse is such a personage,
I've known her all my life.
She wrote my verse before
the schools had taught me how.
Expert wit, her badinage
relieved me of my strife
and acted as my counselor!
REAL so I defend her now.
She simply IS.
Dec 2007
Author notes
Written this morning in reply to Ellis who thought Muse was a metaphor. Muse is a friend, always with me.
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 14 of 14
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Cute ...
and you've expounded on your premise well. My Muse is on vacation, unfortunately. She's such a vacillating creature. Can't ever depend on her. -
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She doesn't come when you call her? Tsk! I wish I could ask mine to have a little chat with yours, Point out the fun and excitement in putting one over on the human at the keyboard...
It's true though, I cannot *expect* Muse to help--it's when I relax., and think about what a poem should be about, not in its form, but getting the mood...
And relax. Feel positive... if nothing happens, n'importe quand, later, you'll get this urge to start typing too.
Holding my breath!
Terry
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Lovely little piece ...
and I see plenty of others agree with me.
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You are a 77 year old girl
With your imaginary friend
And I am the royal Duke of Earl
Don't know where to begin
Miss Muse, it's you, how do you do
Haven't seen you for a good long time
Come to think of it, I have NEVER seen you
You are only in this mind of mine
We will play along, Terry be strong
We will try to get help for you soon
I'll get on it now; to wait would be wrong
Pretty soon you'll be howling at the moon
Tiki Cat (a REAL person)
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Our ghost-writers, Tiki and Muse
Hi Ellis,
Your verse has left me coughing!
It expertly displays another scoffer.
Again, as I often find the scoffing
though mocking has a lot to offer.
"girl?" Perhaps I was, so long ago
with a birthday in September--
But Girl? Anachronism from get-go
so old I hardly can remember.
And Muse is real. She takes offense
with scoffing, getting quite contrary.
Take care to treat with deference
my friend! She's far from "imaginary!"
But to be fair, your cat writes yours,
and Muse is swift to answer.
She writes mine, and typing's errors
are mine, their necromancer.
Don't call me "girl" as Kevin's form decrees.
I much prefer, in fact insist: "Crone please!"
I can sign
the last line
as mine!
Terry
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Awesome!
Truly, sole, soul, inspiring thank you so much for sharing this amazing gem! The rhythm takes the inner muse to toe tapping delights
Brava!
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This sounds like the tune when "preaching to the choir!" Do I guess that you also find poems that write themselves? And do you also feel surprise.. . ? I have come to realize that if I write it word by deliberate word, it usually walks with wooden feet!
I appreciate your tapping toe!
Terry
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ahhhhh... the first time I read a poem about someone's muse. Great idea: great muse.
I can't remember when I was even alive without my muse and a friend indeed...... you've said it very well here and I couldn't agree more.
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Great to find another!
Where were you when even to mention Muse was anathema?
In the "poetry" forum, for weeks two of us were attacked, ridiculed and buried in derision, and finally we just went silent. I didn't report Nam; he was having such great fun. Just stopped going there. The flow of verse dried up too, not a happy time. Repudiation is a painful thing when it has been present almost seventy years! You'd know, having always had your Muse to help you.
It follows that buried in my collections there are so many poems with Muse that I have lost count! She even does formal sonnets with the authority of centuries, Petrarchan and English, but I far prefer to write Sortasonnets where strange schemes happen.
Enough! Work waits.
Thank you for signing in!
Terry
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Dear Terry,
Indeed Muse is real, Muse is a friend. Though wayward, coming and going as she pleases, often absent when most needed, returning unexpectedly, impatient to be heard, impetuous and demanding, yet always understanding and compassionate.
The presence of your Muse is evident in what you have written.
Applause, love and hugs, XXX Hugh.
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Thank you Hugh
How lovely that you found this!
"Wayward" for sure. I hoped for regular rhyme. Did she give me regular rhyme? DUM-be-silleh!
"Impetuous?" Yes! She put her foot down on poor Acrobat's head and left her sitting there, mumbling. Without stumbling she scattered her own schemes up and sideways. Everything else rhymes with something somewhere. I was too busy typing to notice.
Obvious yet why we don't do contests much? Something like that thumbs its nose at form and has no chance at all, not among the free verse set, not among purists. Fun though. I suspect it is designed to keep me humble, and fully aware who is boss!
There, maybe that'll hold her for a while.
Thank you for providing the key words for this!
And a wonderful New Year for you and Edna!
Terry
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Where do ideas come from?
Roger Zelanzy, the author, had an interesting response. He says that every night he leaves a bowl of milk and some crackers on the back stoop; in the morning, the milk and crackers are gone, but there's a stack of crazy ideas by the empty bowl.
Stephen King once remarked he had the brain of a small boy. He keeps it in a jar in his desk drawer.
I took a philosophy course once where we looked at the metaphysics of the soul. What was once thought to be an attribute is now considered a metaphor by many theologians. Science dismisses it outright as it cannot be measured. An atheist will tell you the soul is unnecessary.
Still, in poetry where we deal in personification and anthropomorphism and use real objects to serve as metaphor for incorporeal attributes and emotion, can we ever really know what the "muse" is against the background noise of our art? We are like lions, trying to pick out a lone zebra against the crossing stripes of the whole, moving herd.
I think I'll settle for a smart quip, like those mentioned above, for where my poetry comes from (and hope the poems just keep coming!)
Mike
PS Terry, on a note of form, you open a quotation on the first line but never close it.
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Error corrected with thanks.
Not many here can match this memory: I remember your very first poem--before you had much confidence. Any?? After that you proceeded to show the rest of us how!
The Muse is real, but only those who are lucky enough to have their own, will ever believe it!
It is OK in the face of universal scoffing to call it the tooth fairy moonlighting when the poems flow! Thanks Mike!
Terry
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This is the way to get results, as you say, to use the whole mind and all of its resources. Other people may call it a metaphor, but not if they are acquainted with their muse!
Check - double letter in personnage?
I have (with my own muse's help) analysed and synthesized.
http://allpoetry.com/poem/show/3747488
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