When The Poem Arrives
I have felt it coming for days..
and yet…
not a word has been put down,
because it’s still on its way.
Whatever it is,
my muse wants to say,
there is no hurrying that,
or rushing to the end.
No, I am the spectator here,
wondering when it will begin,
wondering when I will be called in..
to just serve as the
stenographer,
the photographer,
the willing midwife to a verse
that wants to be born,
wants to set those thoughts down
in ink and print,
in rhythm and rhyme .
I’m so ready for…
when the poem arrives.
Whatever is needed of me.
I’m here, I will do it;
just knock and let me know.
I’m in the other room,
but aware that, when it’s my turn,
when my time has come,
to scribble it out
and save it before it fades…
I am ready, to open wide the door.
I am always ready…but patient,
as these moments can’t be arranged
are not in my control.
When a poem is coming ..
stop thinking, stop pondering
It’s not important what might be written.
I just know,
it will flow through me, when it gets here.,
and in the end,
it will be just want I wanted to say.
I am the lover bathed and perfumed,
because when it arrives at my door,
when it knocks, I come running..
the loving poet here and now,
to attend all its needs.
I make sure this thought is not lost,
on some foggy side road,
lost in the trivia of eat , work and sleep.
I give it a candle-light welcome,
arms stretched out to receive
and then…take it by the hand
roll it through my mind until my fingers dance
and write it all down from
that special focused place, of poetry and trance….
because, when the poem arrives…
I am always ready.
Karima Hoisan
December 14, 2020
Costa Rica
A wonderful summary of your creative process; so open to what comes, in happy confidence that it will be just the right thing. And so it is!
Ohh thank you Dale… you know me pretty well by now, and how that strange process works *most of the time:)
Love this habeebity ❤️ absolutely.. It does happen always, when the poem arrives, my pen or to say now a days my fingers start typing effortlessly and it’s done.
Beautifully written 💕🤗❤️
Shokran habeebity…yes..I think it is this way for many:) So glad you can relate to my process…As you know, the timing worked well for today, as last week, I was not in the best conditions to give it the welcome it deserved! Thank you for all your support and friendship❤️🌺🤗❤️
Always a pleasure dearest one, ❤️❤️❤️ Hope you are well now 🤗💕
Thanks to you too for all the love, 🥰🤗❤️
What a nice poem! It is very reflective of the feelings of mine too.
Thank you Betul, for visiting and commenting on this one. Also thank you for telling me, it is also reflective in your process.I love knowing that:):)❤️
Karina, tu poema es hermoso y profundo. Me encantó. Lo disfruté mucho. Te felicito. Tienes mi admiración.
Muchas gracias Santiago por tu comentario! Me alegro much que lo había encantado. Muy amable de tu parte para decirme 💐
WOW. This is a gorgeous poem, Karima. So very descriptive, and lovely. I love how you frame the experience of being in the flow, when the words just come. The other day, I was wanting to write and there were no ideas. Then, later that day, a whole poem burst out of me in a matter of minutes. I love that experience, and you have captured it here elegantly. Have a great week.❤️
Ohh thank you Jeff, I thought I replied to you this morning on my phone, but I don’t see it:(
Yes, that being in the flow or feeling the flow is about to start, is so close to what I would call magic…It’s that very intuitive state that is much more passive than assertive..but poems do get written:) If you try to hard..well they don’t..just be ready to capture them, as they start arriving…I just am fascinated with this process, and truly more aware of it now, than I was 20 years ago. I loved this comment…the fact you also vibrate to this experience too:) 🙏
Oh, that’s okay, you are always super responsive, and, alas, I am just now getting to see your response at this later hour. Ah, I love how you write about vibrating to the flow, that is so well stated, and is exactly how it feels. Just wonderful. Have a great rest of your week, Karima.🙏
Karima – I am SO jealous! I want to have written this. It’s amazing!
-David
Oh David you made me laugh out-loud at this very high compliment smiles when I was on a poetry group online years ago, we used to shout out “Line envy!!” When we wished we had written that so …I know the sentiment and you honor me by saying this. Thank you for your continual support 🙏
Amazing 💖
Karima!! I loved this!!! My favorite line : ” Whatever is needed of me.
I’m here, I will do it;
just knock and let me know”
Wow…just wow. You are like a river flowing with the most graceful words. I read it thrice…still it’s not enough!! Stay blessed and bless your river of words always Habibti.. ❤️❤️❤️🤗🤗💐💐🙏
Awww Diana so delighted you enjoyed this one so much. I guess we poets are pretty similar in our creative ways. It’s a topic I find so fascinating, but even though are processes may have overlapping details each poet is unique, just as each poem is. Don’t you just love that?? The creative process, is as close as we come to know what magic is. We make something out of nothing and each something is so different from the last. Mashallah .. Life is so amazing!! Thank you beautiful poet for your comments and be blessed always 🙏❤️💐
Wow. :)) I saw you sitting there in your room, contemplating, waiting, poised with your pen, yet not hurrying, just smiling with the knowledge that you’d be fine whether it comes or it doesn’t. The very process is what you love. The whisperings of something out of apparently nothing is what you love. What a wonderful picture. You presented all that’s romantic in being a writer. Not the written word. But the received feelings. Beautiful, Karima.:))
I am smiling from ear to ear…Sundaram…you don’t read just between my lines, you read between my words:) and yes! It Is the process I love.. it is the process I find amazing…being the passive spectator until I am needed to be the scribe and write it all down.. Being on the sidewalk waiting and being in the front line of the parade, when it comes time. I wasn’t sure if I could convey that..It’s what I set out to do…but yes, you saw it and you heard me:):) Thank you my friend…Oh yes…it is a romance, what a writer lives with his characters or her poetry….I love that you see it too this way:):)
Absolutely. That’s what pulls me to writing, Karima. The very same thing. And you conveyed it so beautifully. Your words are always so laden with meaning.
Such perfection! A wonderful poem and a wonderful poem on writing and inspiration. What a great title, as well. Everything word here is truly masterfully placed.
Thank you Benjamin…after so many comments you made today, WordPress decided this one was spam *smiles..This one is certainly not spam..I love your comment for the appreciation you left for me to find…Really you have been like an angel motivator for me…. ❤️🙏
You’re welcome again. That spam is tricky. Sometimes it puts the wrong comments there. But this was a fun poem to come across. I’m sure I’ll be reading more soon enough. That’s sweet of you to say. about an “angel motivator”, and that sounds like some sweet poem. Have a great day!
A perfect thought as to how great writers view the arrival of their works. I have heard it said by a number of artists that their inspiration comes and they are solely the arbiters. The great word man, Bobby Dylan once said his writings come from a well spring somewhere and it’s hard to say where and when it will happen. Your poem says it perfectly. “The lover bathed and perfumed waiting for the knock” Wow!
So glad you vibrated to this one Hoyt…Yes I understand what Dylan says..I see this too..but I am NOT the genius that he is… Yes, I feel I am the court stenographer..trying to capture the thoughts before they fade:)
Your writing style is awesome.
Have you ever read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert? The audiobook is amazing too
Oh, no I haven’t…but now I am curious:):) Thank you Hdavey for your comment:)
What a beautiful love poem, to a poem personified.
It’s so clever, so helpful. You’ve written a poem that will help you on the days when you forget these words, and you’ve written a poem for us… for those of us that needs to take on this way of thinking, this way of being… so that we can remove the blockage that has been keeping us from flowing like water, how we want to, on paper 💞👏🏽
Thank you so much for this beautiful comment…that tells me, you too have waited in the other room, for that knock on the door:) They always do arrive, if we pay attention..Writing poetry especially, is one of the few things we have to do, without, “knuckling down and putting our minds to it” Smiles..quite the opposite, we must be the passive receiver and when we are…ahh we will be rewarded!! Welcome to my blog and thank you for taking the time to leave me this comment. I really enjoyed it!
I truly agree, thank you for that. And you’re very welcome. Thank you also for the warm welcome 🙏😊