Day: July 5, 2021

What’s Wrong with Inspiration?

~ thereluctantpoet

Erica Goss

Plenty, it seems. Ask any writer who’s been at the craft for awhile what inspires her and you might get this pithy answer:everything. Ornothing—“I don’t need inspiration,” says the truly advanced writer. “I can write a poem, or a story, or an essay, just by staring at the wall.”

I tell my students a version of this too. “Don’t wait around to be inspired,” I say, as if that were the most absurd and useless activity anyone could engage in. “Just start writing.” I force them to freewrite for fifteen minutes a day. I require them to collect words and sentences and make little word-pools. I give them prompts and exercises like these: write about a vegetable. Write about a bird. Copy a classic poem and change every third word to “steal.” Make a poem from food labels. Write a found poem using a pharmaceutical insert.

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Bittersweet goodbye..

~ thereluctantpoet

johncoyote

Bittersweet goodbye

A Poem by Coyote Poetry
"Goodbyes are necessary. Need closure to all things."  

  Bittersweet closure…

I walked up to her house in late June 1980. I celebrated one year with this young woman and in the comfort of her small apartment. We learned passion, love, disappointment and loneliness. An angelic face answered the door and she asked me. Why did I come? She fell into my arms.

I was leaving the Army and Germany in one week. Three years in the beauty and elegance of Germany was coming to the end. I came for closure. My beautiful Daniela took me to heaven and hell. We entwined two lives for a year and her beauty and energy for living enchanted my heart. We reached the pinnacle of passion. A million sweet kisses and thousand words of love. Now only emotions left are sweet dreams and words written…

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The storm…

~ thereluctantpoet

johncoyote

The storm

A Poem by Coyote Poetry
"Love can break you down and leave you empty and alone."          

                          The storm….

Love can be like a gentle rain. It can be like a thunderstorm to the heart.

A fall day in 1987. A auburn hair beauty came to my door with six wine coolers and a smile. Requested to join me in my apartment. She told me she broke-up with her boyfriend and needed company.

I invited her in and she removed her coat. Showing me long  tan legs and a perfect body. Her short skirt left me dreaming of thing I shouldn’t have.

Sweet Jennifer had great dreams. She was going to be a designer of clothing. She loved to dance and laugh. She was barely 19 years old.

I was not old in age. Just old in spirit. I was just tire and accepted my life. Work…

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It’s Okay To Be Scared

~ thereluctantpoet

Be Inspired..!!

Whether we’re able to admit it or not, we’re all a little scared. Those who aren’t are either living a safe, comfortable, somewhat insular life, or are deluding themselves a bit. But for the vast majority of people who actively engage with the world and stretch into new experiences, life tends to bring out our insecurities.

Despite how brave and self-assured we appear, we’re all a little nervous and anxious inside. With so much volatility and uncertainty in the world, why wouldn’t we be?

So, let’s take some comfort in the fact that we’re all in this boat together. And, let’s embrace our fear. Instead of working to overcome it right away, let’s make sure we fully understand it.

Most people are incapable of doing this on their own. We’re better at masking our insecurities, suppressing our stress, or dismissing it whole-cloth. And, some of us have gotten great at…

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