Musing

Bailing Out The Boat, by William Marshall Brown

Although this post is titled "Musing" I can honestly say that no Muse has visited me for a very long time, or if she has, she has just as suddenly flitted away.

Nearly nine years ago I created The Wonderful Boat and, in that time, have had the good fortune of seeing five collections of poetry published.

The poems in these books are the product of my best effort at keeping sane in an insane, chaotic world, of pursuing ever-elusive happiness, and ultimately of settling on what ED called "quartz contentment".

I remember feeling a sense of accomplishment when the poems were published, and a sense of gratitude for those editors who are willing to publish formal poetry. But there are days when none of this matters.

I might just as soon have written grocery lists.

My wonderful boat seems to have lost its way. It is drifting and taking on water. Perhaps it never was as wonderful as I imagined it to be. Most likely it will sink to the bottom of the ocean of tears upon which it was launched. I am tired of bailing it out.

Leonard Cohen once said "Deprivation is the mother of poetry." And although I cannot say I ever felt deprived of the basics, that is, food, clothing and shelter, there is a state of deprivation worse than going hungry, naked or homeless.

You who have been there know what I mean.