“Portrait of Eivind Eckbo” by: Thorvald Hellesen
Meet my maddening muse
at times
he’s so unfocused
unclear
uncentered
he can be unsettled
unleveled
disheveled
his message fractured
misaligned
garbled
though I try to interpret
it’s just a blur
amorphous
it’s so aggravating
even infuriating
no solid inspiration
aswim in desperation
each night
becomes each morning
here I sit
in the wee hours
while the sane sleep
I’m steeped
in contradiction
hypnotized in trance
watching concepts dance
thoughts vague
filled with doubt
words tossed about
the unyielding page
I start
then stop
I write
then not
I’m caught
it’s all mercilessly unclear
debilitating confusion
an exasperating delusion
an unreachable conclusion
terminal hesitation
mad mental extrapolation
jostled communication
oh hell
it’s creative constipation
utter agitation
supreme frustration
jumbled afterimages
of conflicting thoughts
bring quiet rage
fickle muse — please
just a spark
to squelch this dark
that grips me like a cage
I’m seekin’ clarity
not charity
shine a lil’light
I’ll do the write
just settle
damnit
settle!
“Seeking the Muse” by: rob kistner © 2007
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rob kistner © 2023
Poetry at: dVerse
Thanks for the introduction to the ‘maddening muse’, Rob! Your poem is many layered, like the painting, truly ekphrastic at the beginning and then melding into a poet’s stream of consciousness – from visual to verbal. I like the lines:
‘his message fractured
though I try to interpret
it’s just a blur’
and
‘thoughts vague
filled with doubt
words tossed about
the unyielding page’
Thank you Kim. It took me a number of swings before I hit it in a way that felt right to me. A blend, not a jarring bump. I wanted to make some comment on the art, and then the feelings it evoked, trying to connect it all in a reasonable flow.
I like your poem a lot. It is truthful. Contemplative. Uncertain. It feels very real to me.
Thank you Misky… 🙂
I think you just captured a perspective on the seeming chaotic nature of cubism. It sure matches the way I saw this painting.
I was just reacting to what I was seeing Sean, and went the direction it took me — trying to see into the chaos.
Love this take on this Cubist painting…..turning it in to your mindboggling confusing, sometimes fragmented and frustrating muse. You describe the painting and then begin your rant leading up to the perfect ending,
“just settle
damnit
settle”
I’d never thought of the poetic muse in terms of being cubist but boy can I see the likeness. The words that come, then get scratched out….the mind going one way and then another…the fragments we spit out in the beginning. Well done!
Thank you Lil… 🙂
Hi Lil! — I love visual prompts, my favorite, but I do not use a typical ekphrastic approach with a work of art. I find the impression that the visual art piece projects for me, and I use that impression as the inspiration for a poem. My visual favorite art by which to be inspired, is surreal art. In second place would be photography. I can even be more Ekphrastic when describing a natural scene, but even then I usually react to the feeling it evokes as my driving force for a poem. No more strictly visual prompt sites left, the last two great ones gone, Tess Kincaid’s Magpie Tales, and as of this next weekend, Carrie is shutting down The Sunday Muse. I am truly suffering a broken heart. I feel a huge hunk of my poetry prompts have been taken away. I have published a visual prompt site in the past, two of them actually: Writers Island and Matinée Muse. If I was not dealing with so much health crap, I would definitely publish a new visual prompt site. I’m still debating it, trying to truthfully decide if I think I can keep it up properly. Anyway, that’s my very sad tale for the moment.
My poetry teachers have said it is better to write a poem that can stand alone independently of he picture. To make that a test. I quite often break their rule, because the reader thinks the picture instead of the poem’s revelations.
There is a similar rule, do not ask a child what his picture is. Let the child tell but asking ‘what it is’ makes them fit something confined to its knowledge mold. Gives creativity having boundaries.
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Sounds right Jim. I always like the poem to be independent of the picture, because I do not describe the picture when I write, only the feeling that I get when I see the picture — the abstract.
A maddening muse… something constantly in motion, teasing… love the way you captured in a way anyway…
Thsnk you Björn… 🙂
I am so glad we can use a mind of our own, check the muse out and then if not liked put on our thinking cap. Keep Ms. Muse away.
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All my inspiration I metaphorically attribute to my muse Jim… 🙂
My muse is like that too and it can be maddening and chaotic. I guess we all have to deal with this creative madness one time or another.
Yes Grace, it can be toture at times, exasperating — but when the words finally hit, and it all clicks… it’s glorious! It’s the rush that keeps us writin’ my friend.
This is awesome!
Thank you so much, Christine… 🙂
I like how you enhanced the image, Rob, and then created an aura of impressions around it. When looking at each of the paintings, it makes me want to know more about the subjects they are based on. This guy seemed to be a beehive of activity to me.
Thank you Lisa! Combo ekphrastic and rant… 😉
The construction and flow of the piece fit with the image perfectly.????????
Thank you Melissa, I appreciate that you saw that my friend… 🙂
That damn muse! I felt this at my core Rob.
Can be damned difficult,,, 🙂