Thread: Rumination on being too lazy to write

rumination on being too lazy to write

It's gone I fear, the knack, the thrill
the godly élan to write what I will.
Too jaded, too faded, too beery, too stoned
too leery and weary and too un-atoned,
too witless, too give-a-shitless, too flabby, too weak
to invite the slaps, to turn more cheeks.

It's over, the clover, the lyrical lines
the snuffling and ruffling in manures divine.
Declamation, articulation, redemption and rhyme
have ended; they depended on bravery's spark
a dog's lifted leg and bright ballsy bark.
Now it's sunlit carpet or shaded clipped grass,
air conditioner's drone, martinis with the crass,
baseball on the radio, backgammon on the deck:
literary lassitude, genius lulled to dreck.

The summer's a bummer, it's loaded down my mind
a flowery opiate squandering time.
Let it end, this idyll, these pleasures, this curse;
it's winter I'm wanting to help me feel worse.
That's when the pen is the needle of relief:
injecting the soul with warm new belief.

Even though I am one of those weirdos who actually feel best during the bleak winter, I love this piece. The meter is a bit off here and there and L3 in S2 deviates from the otherwise consistent rhyme scheme, but the great content and fabulous internal rhymes surely overshadow those little bumps. Fav line: "a flowery opiate squandering time". Sounds like your summer is divine, lucky fellow. I thoroughly enjoyed this, J.R., thanks so much for sharing, it made my day.

Best,
Lisa

There seems the odd line here and there that could scan better for simplification eg.

literary lassitude, genius lulled to dreck.

The summer's a bummer, it's loaded down my mind

leave out the two highlighted words and the first and second phrases match and flow better for me, nice though.

Bravo.

Lisa, Ollie, Jeep: Thanks for reading and commenting. It has been a rather glorious summer, but something in me is perpetually discontented, yearning for the times when there is nothing 'better' to do than write.

cheers
J.R.

Really enjoyed this J.R. I too have felt this same feeling from time to time. You've captured it perfectly here, and I love the ending! Very true.

A kindred spirit. I suffer severe Sunday afternoon and winter time melancholia. I find February to be particularly brutal, although it is one of my favorite words.