I Shall Write

First order of business today: Have you set your clock(s) ahead one hour? "Daylight Saving Time," you know.

I will skip my usual comments about how this yearly ritual does little beyond getting all of us to do the same thing at approximately the same time ... not even my perennial comment that DST's main purpose is to give farmers an extra hour of daylight so they can go golfing late in the day.

Let's just say that I celebrated the event this morning ... by sleeping in.

And now, some of you may have seen today's poem before. But since I did sleep in, I had to hit the floor running (figuratively) and grab the first thing I could find.

So here's what I said about "I Shall Write" when I posted it here before:

I usually make my postings in the morning, but today was a bit different.

I had to make a medical pit stop - nothing serious, a quick tire change and I was right back into the race. But I didn't pop a wheelie and head directly back to the keyboard.

It was such a beautiful day that I frittered much of it away on an outdoors walk which included a pause in the shade to do a couple of quick sketches.

But here I am now, rather glad that I delayed today's posting. When I finally meandered back home, I found the mail waiting. I don't often get good news in the mail, but today was an exception.

Waiting in the box was a copy of ICON literary magazine, containing two ... count 'em, TWO ... of my poems. I'd like to share one of them with you now. It's nothing spectacular, but I do like the sound of it, as I did just before I sent it off to seek its fortune early this year.

I had hopes, but I've learned not to bank too heavily on those.

It's another poem about writing ... about the determination to continue writing. I still have that, thank you very much, and I'm glad I do. It helps to keep me going between those pit stops.

The poem:

I SHALL WRITE

When all light has settled

into a darkness that steals

the sustenance of birdsong,

when day is a mere flickering

across the screens of minds,

when paper has retreated

into the corridorsof memory,

I shall approach the blue

smoothness of water, and lie

there beside it; savoring

its wavering coolness, I shall

write upon it as someone else

may have done before words

began making poetry, before

there was music, before

love and understanding

tried to live among us.

© 2006

(Published in the Spring 2006 - 40th Anniversary Edition - of ICON literary magazine)

***

Today's word: determination

Afterthoughts ... in response to your comments:

Thank you, Helen for those words of encouragement. I like it, too, when the words and phrases come together ... sometimes only after a lot of nudging (re-writing) ... to make something akin to music, maybe even painting a picture that someone else will enjoy. Thanks, too, for the comment about the photos. I hardly ever leave home without a camera ... and I do like sharing what I find out there.

And thank you, Featheredpines, for that comment ... it helps me to see the poem in a little different light ... and I enjoy that, too.