muses

are fickle things
like flaky flirtations
playing hard to get

sometimes with you
sometimes utterly oblivious
to one's very being

but they call out
they say
"write"

and you obey.

so where has mine gone?
when I arrived late last night
from a night full of welcome triviality

a night full of intoxicated
90's nostalgia slurred conversation

and formulation of
urban legends

(you see
I've learned not to take
life quite so seriously
as I once did

enjoying the spectacle
for once
and not insisting on
the substance.)

my head was full of lines
lines lines

beautifully formed lines
with cadences
ironies
counter-ironies

references to literary
works appreciated by
the novice as well as
the scholar.

alliteration
sarcasm
invective

bookended as always
by the utterly devastating

conclusion.