The heart that does not/
put into compartments all/
feelings that flow, wins.

It’s always the last/
line, the verse words that never/
rhyme, which breaks your heart.

It’s strange how she/
throws herself eagerly/
on handsome men she does not know,/
but when one stirs her soul,/
she treads hesitatingly.

OR
she proceeds cautiously.

Good morning! Nothing/
poetic. Just a simple/
way to start your day.

How/
does it now/
feel/
when my unrehearsed/
verse/
reveals/
a surprising new,/
unexpected view?/

That it’s you/
who stands anew,/
wearing the shoes/
of my verbal Muse?

So I’ll repent,/
and go where you went./
I’ll be late,/
but it will still be great./
Can you wait?

I thought I would know/
where to go for gelato,/
but I really don’t.

I don’t get distracted./
I’ve so oft reacted/
to great beauty/
and it never did do me/
any good./
Understood?

I’ve been thinking for a long time about doing a workshop on creative writing. One of the first lessons I’d have would be on “just do”. This was brought home forcefully today by a friend of mine. I wonder how many people (including myself) feel the same way as she did, at the beginning of the writing process:
“I’m not a writer. I never have any good thoughts and I’m not creative. But one day I was driving in the rain and I had this thought… and I wrote it down.”
“What was amazing to me is that I even wrote it down, that I thought it good enough to write down. But it felt good to create.”

Here’s what she wrote originally:
It is raining and in it I find solace, warmth and understanding.~ me

I commented that’s the way 90% of the world is: They have thoughts, but they are afraid or embarrased to write them down. Why?
Then I showed her something: With a little tweeking, her thought became a haiku (not that it’s better as a haiku… I think it’s brilliant as it first came out). But it points out the creative process: We have a raw thought. We capture it. We think about it. We tweek it. We publish it.

It is raining. In/
rain I find solace, warmth and /
deep understanding.

OR

It rains. I stand there./
In rain I find solace, warmth /
and understanding.

I’m trying
to not be too overly
blown
away by you,
but as the miles
and time
drift behind me,
the brain waves well up
and it’s proving
difficult.