At an Impasse, Poetically

(Silence Between the Lines)

I wrote poetry in my youth, but it wasn’t until five or so years ago that I began to write constantly. It’s as if a wrench struck a nerve in my head and busted all the literary pipes. Gushing words in poetry and prose, I wrote while happy, depressed, angry, drunk, sober, and any time day or night.

When the words spoke, I wrote.

As a good friend (editor) can attest, it wasn’t all grammatical unicorns and rainbows. Though, each piece had a spark that continued to ignite the fire long repressed in this poet’s soul. Nothing could stop the flow of rhythmical words and my hand caressing the pages — until one day. My mind cannot recall when, exactly, but it was the most frustrating feeling I’d felt in some time.

Writer’s Block.

That dreaded feeling every writer, no matter their level of the art, encounters had built its dreaded wall. Access to my poetic “fountain of youth” had been blocked. I wrote day after day, trying to make sense of anything and everything scribbled across my pages, but nothing connected. Finally, after hours of mental agony, I remembered my editor’s advice and took a step back.

A few days had passed, I reconnected with the “real world”, living outside the insanity of my pages. Slowly, but surely, as Celine Dion sang, “It’s all coming back to me now”.

Writing a couple stanzas and rereading what had previously been written made complete sense to my well-rested mind. From that point on, I would recognize the onset of frustration and close my journal, taking time to disconnect and mentally reset, creating new sparks to ignite new flames to feed the pages of my soul.

Below is a piece written during and expressing the extent of frustration felt during my initial episode of writer’s block:

The Room Upstairs

Writing, writing, rubbing raw, fingers bleed.

Forcing thoughts, but nothing comes to me.

I bite the lips to calm my seething tongue.

Oh, here we go again!

Another nonsensical song to be sung.

Written by the voices’ point of view,

a truth unleashed ‘til the day I am done.