Funny Side of Being a Writer

Yesterday, I found this poem by Shel Silverstein (author of Where the Sidewalk Ends and Falling UP).  It reminded me of how a writer's life is sometimes.  Hope you'd find it hilarious as much as I did.

Sounds

     Night falls.  The wind crashes upon the house with relentless force.  The chime by the balcony screams to the fierceness of the hysterical element.  One day, it cajoles it like a friend, and now it slaps it to swaying and spinning as from an adversary. 

     In the kitchen, the vent rattles.  Feet away, the living room blares the voice of Dr. Seuss' "The Cat in the Hat,"  a winter special.  The woodstove in the corner spits a "pop;"  flame red logs fighting endlessly to keep wearied bones warm.

     The inhabitants are tired.  One gives a cough--lungs rattling like the vent in the kitchen.  They all accept winter's presence.  It is what it is.  A reminder to the cycle of nature and of life.

Ithaka

by Constantine Peter Cavafy (1911)

As you set out in search of Ithaka
Pray that your journey be long
full of adventures, full of awakenings.
Do not fear the monsters of old...
You will not meet them in your travels
if your thoughts are exalted and remain high,
if authentic passions stir your mind, body and spirit.
You will not encounter fearful monsters
if you do not carry them within your soul
if your soul does not set them up in front of you.


                    * * *

I jotted this poem down in my journal on December 28, 2011, way before I met Jessica Bell (poet and author of String Bridge).  This is in honor of her Homeric Writers Retreat and Workshop which will be held in Ithaca  this coming August.