Desert-ed Rivers

[writers’ block]

It should be, must be there inside

it’s shown itself many times in the past

sometimes when it was least expected.

But lately, it’s gone underground

hiding so well that I almost believe

it was never really there.

But I’ve seen what it created

I marvel at those works and wonder

where did the ideas come from

what creative urge spawned them

I search the depths and ask again

what is the fountain’s source?

At times it is a free-flowing river

ideas and words bubbling forth

as from a spring; a font of creativity.

Then it slows, trickles, dries up

my Niagara becomes a Sahara

- dessicated, empty, lifeless.

Thirsting, desperate, I stumble on

searching for a new stream

but find only mirage, chimera.

Then I look deeper and realise

the river is still there,

running wide and strong, waiting

for the light only I can shed upon it.

It is I who must bore deep

within the hard yet fertile ground

to find another way into the depths

to pierce the psychological blockage

and create a narrow shaft

through which I can once more

tap into the creativity of my mind.

© Linda Visman

25^th August 2007

Wandering in a creative desert.