May 11th writing exercise: "I take refuge in Zelda's"

Posted on: Sun, 05/11/2008 - 21:46 By: Tom Swiss

Zelda's returns to the Daily Grind this week. As this move prompts us to consider what we're about, tonight's exercise was write about your creative process, with an emphasis on Zelda's

the rain falls in to the harbor
I watch it through the windows of the sushi restaurant, sipping a beer as I wait for my food

there is a moment here, seeing water return home
a moment I would photograph if I could image the inside of my mind
I cannot
so I write instead

so I write instead but
it's not enough, sometimes
I need reinforcements
poetic comrades-at-arms
for he who writes their blood with me today is my brother or sister

a poetry militia
well-regulted, necessary to the security of a free art
meeting weekly for drill

no? too militaristic?
a poetry church? meeting every sunday?
no, we are not a poetry church -
no pulpit, no pews, no altar here
more a poetry coven, with our incantations and spells as we circle round
or a poetry sangha, supporting each other in our practice

the rain continues to fall as we gather around a table
drink coffee and write
I see the movement of pens on paper and
it is good to see the dance

old commrades and new
once more into the breach. dear friends
I take refuge in the words, I take refuge in the poems, I take refuge in Zelda's