The Love Song of a Struggling Writer
It's strange that words are so inadequate.
Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath,
So the writer must struggle for words.
Let us go then, you and I,
As phrases dance across the sky,
Like a poem scribed upon a table
Let us go, through empty deserted minds
The thoughtless finds
Of restless nights when words have left
A dreamless sleep upon the empty draft:
Debts that hunt through bills and mail
Soon caught, no avail
To lead you to an overwhelming dilemma
Oh, do not think of it, “When will I be in print?”
Let us go on borrowed time lent.
Deadlines often come and go
But do I care? Not really…no
The words that never come to be
And phrases never uttered beautifully
Butchered at the hand of the creator
Lingering on the cusp of success
Never brought to fruition, lest I digress
Many ideas I’ve never said
My fingers haven’t moved in hours
Anger builds till I see red.
And indeed there will be time
To taste tendrils of victory
To kiss the lips of a well written acquaintance
There will be time, there will be time
When publishers knock down your door
And ask for my autograph in store
And time for typewriter keys to bend
To rust and break with age
To break hearts of which I cannot mend
Keeping secrets triumph won’t lend
Reveling in the thought of glistening diction
Before the taking of pictures and Ads
Deadlines often come and go
But do I care? Not really…no
There will be moments
To wonder, “Do I write?” and, “Do I print?”
Time to turn back and edit my drafts,
With run on sentences littering the page—
[They will say: “How his grammar is horrid!”]
My morning coffee, and scone for fuel
My pajamas wrinkled from late night frustration—
[They will say: “But how his style has declined!”]
Do I dare
Disturb the publisher?
In a day there is time
For discussion and revisions which a day will reclaim.
For I have read them all, scanned every line:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, late night walks,
I have measured out my life with writers block ;
I know the diction dies as my drive begins to fail
Between the lines of another story.
So how should I continue?
And I have known the public already—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am on display, such a fickle crowd,
When I am blinded by camera flashes and set lights,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the inspiration for my literary creation?
And how should I continue?
Shall I say, I have visited New York and L.A.
And watched the heels smack and clack the pavement
Of lonely writers sipping their grown cold tea?…
I should have been a published writer
Pounding the pavement in glittering achievement.
And after work sip cocktails with various big cheese!
Wined and dined with sticky fingers,
Asleep, awake the thought still lingers,
Stretched across the printing press; an ocean of you and me.
Should I, after punctuating and correcting lines,
Have the creative juice to write another?
I have pondered the many ways to generate fresh material,
Though I have seen my hands become gnarled and thin,
I am no writer—and here’s no great literary work;
I have seen the moment of my success pass,
Having flown out the window with expanded wings,
And in short, I failed.
And would it really have mattered,
After the pens, the quills, the empty ink,
Among the typewriters crevices,
Would it have been worth while,
To have never written in such style,
To have pondered my very fortune
To compact it into a simple sentence,
To write, to be in books and various magazines,
and see my picture on front pages of best seller lists
I Should say:
“I will never be in print, no prizes or ribbons.”
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the interviews and company meetings,
After the novels, after the cover art, after the payment plans—
And this, is there no more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
I shall sit in the dark, alone, and brood:
Would it have been worth while?
If I had ever submitted just one great piece,
I’m left gazing out the window; still in refrain:
“I will never be in print,
I will never see my works published.”
No! I am not Stephen King, nor ever will be
Sad excuse for a writer or so they say
I think I’ll end my career today
Placed down my pen and ink,; No thrill,
Cannot say which way I’ll go
Words, Phrases, Plot, will change
Soon as my thoughts cease to flow
The meaning of life could rearrange
Another failed attempt, joy ****
I grow old… I grow old…
My written soul will never be told.
Shall I scrap my stories? Should I burn every page?
I shall write in fantasy, and script my dreams
The chimera call, nothing is as it seems
I do not think they call for me
The fantastic is irrelevant
As my mind does fade with age
Take piece of mind; internal war I wage
I have dared to enter realms unwritten
Have ventured past words unspoke
Which suffocate; against my throat to choke.