 Poetry: August 09, 2017 Issue [#8434] |
  Poetry
This week: Muses 101 Edited by: Fyn  
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O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention. ~~William Shakespeare
Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse, And every conqueror creates a muse. ~~Edmund Waller
The muse holds no appointments. You can never call on it. I don't understand people who get up at 9 o'clock in the morning, put on the coffee and sit down to write. ~~Glen Hansard
The muse is not an angelic voice that sits on your shoulder and sings sweetly. The muse is the most annoying whine. The muse isn't hard to find, just hard to like - she follows you everywhere, tapping you on the shoulder, demanding that you stop doing whatever else you might be doing and pay attention to her.~~ Harlan Coben
I never try to convey a message, I just want to tell a story. Why that story in particular? I have no idea, but I have learned to surrender to the muse. I become obsessed with a theme or with certain stories; they haunt me for years, and finally, I write them. ~~Isabel Allende
The muse, the beloved, and duende are three ways of thinking of what is the source of poetry, and all three seem to me different names or different ways to think about something that is not entirely reasonable, not entirely subject to the will, not entirely rational. ~~Edward Hirsch
I'm truly, 100% guided by the characters and my Muse. If one of the characters suddenly decided to do something very different, I'd just go with it. It's much easier to let the Muse drive than for me to try to steer. ~~Lori Foster
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The Muses were born in Greek mythology. They were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (the goddess of memory) and were taught by Apollo, god of poetry and music. The Muses embodied the arts and inspired creation with their graces through remembered and improvised song and stage, writing, traditional music and dance.
It this day and age, whilst our muses are often still guided by the muse of old, many of us have either a real life muse who pushes, shoves, prods, provides timely kicks in the rump and is there to listen, remember and then spin us off in some specific direction, or our muse is this vague entity who has a habit of taking over our fingers and tell us (the writer) to sit back, shut up and let our fingers spit out what the muse wants said.
I am fortunate to have several muses. One, sits in my head cooking up her word stew, letting ideas simmer, seasoning it with sprigs of word choice or chopped leaf of symbolism. She is the one who insists I layer my writing, that I am consistent with my symbolism and that when she deems it necessary to simply be the conduit through which she can spew forth that which she wants said. At that point, I have very little to do with anything. No point in arguing. No point in even thinking that so and so was supposed to be doing whatever ... one she takes the helm all bets are off! Scary part is that she's almost always right. ... okay, okay, she's always right. Happy now? Good!
Another of my muses is my sounding board, Often, I will blather on about one idea, knowing it really isn't quite what I want or need. But she'll listen, (probably bored silly) with half an ear, then she will make one, tiny comment and BAMM! I'm off to the races!
My interior muse is by far the most difficult. I know I can reach out to my friend assuming it is within 'calling hours.' My muse is best at o-dark-thirty am or right as I'm falling asleep at night. She's famous for sneaking into my dreams to plant her ideas. Her other favorite ploy is to take over mid sentence and then she and my characters have a party and I'm just left there, on the outside and being told to type. Worst part is, you can't kick 'em out, tell them to hush or, (horrors!) ignore them. I did that once. She vanished, leaving blank slates, empty dictionaries and a horrendous case of crumpled-paper-itus! Literally for several years. I never want to go through that again.
I keep a note pad by the bed. I get the coffee ready to go before bed as I never know when my muse will beat the sun up and require my presence at 3 am. I let her have her head when she wants it. She's the boss in those situations. I've learned not to argue with her. Oh, and thanks to my other main muse, my mental muse requires Dove chocolate and coffee in copious amounts! Occasionally, she wants music (no words or lyrics allowed) and super comfy jammies. Oh, and did I mention Dove chocolate? Grrrr.
My human-non-peopled muse I can reach out to assuming it is within 'calling hours.' She, the one of Dove chocolate fame, who lives on hot chocolate while also pjs and hoodie attired. One of those friends who is always there, always has just the right thing to say and knows when to pull out the excuse-o-meter and set the alarm to earsplitting! Can't ask for better than that!
I also have another muse. He and I have this shared muse who has a habit of thwapping one or the other of us upside the head. He says I am his muse. Something like a muse-appreciation society thing. He is a brilliant writer, is the one who insists I don't get lazy and pushes me on the whole level/symbolism thing I like. Unfortunately, this muse is sporadic, coming and going, is skilled at hiding and allowing himself to be buried. Every now and then I can wallop him with a shovel and he will begin to dig himself out. He is so lucky I live halfway across the country. The world flat-out needs his writings!
Muses can be persnickety, stubborn, obdurate and sneaky. They can be life-savers, full of warm-fuzzies and give you everything necessary when that deadline is looming large! Aand occasionally, they will roll over, go back to sleep under their rock and leave you hanging.
OUCH!
Okay, when they do that, I am rudely told, they are simply making you rely on yourself because they know you are quite capable without their help.
*Goes off to get a glass of wine* ... I think my muse is thirsty!
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Silence is not always golden ... 3rd place 10/2009 Quotation Inspiration Contest
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sdv413 says: Very good. You truly have the eye (and heart) of a poet.
Rhyssa  writes: Oh, lovely. I like your prose poem newsletter--it's so important to remember that poetry is found in how we see the world. Poems are everywhere.Thanks for the newsletter.
Monty  comments: I am impressed.
Wow! Thanks!
LinnAnn -Book writer  adds: This was absolutely marvelous. I enjoyed your not poem/poem. Thanks for the time and effort you put into it and for sharing it I loved it.
Azrael Tseng  writes: Wow, what an amazingly beautiful tour of where you find poetry, and your enchanting waltz with it every day. I'm stunned. Here's my attempt at mimicking your style -- I breathe poetry. It tickles my nose, and makes me sneeze! Oops, I spoilt it, didn't it?
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