Waiting for the Muse

Sometimes it takes hours to write a sentence.  Sometimes it takes no time to finish a poem.  Inspiration cannot be controlled.  It comes when it comes, and it can happen at the most inconvenient time.

I met Li-Yong Lee at the Squaw Valley Writers Conference in 2001, when he was one of the faculty poets.  We found a little time to chat at the baseball field, waiting in line for Galway Kinnell to teach us klutz how to bat.  Lee told me he worked in a warehouse during the day, stacking boxes.  He wanted a job that did not require thinking.  Being available when the muse visits is part of an artist’s life.