Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Writing in the Dark

"It's not that difficult.
Anyway, it's necessary.

Wait till morning, and you'll forget.
And who knows if morning will come.

Fumble for the light,
and you'll be
stark awake, but the vision
will be fading, slipping
out of reach.

You must have paper at hand,
a felt-tip pen, ballpoints don't always flow,
pencil points tend to break. There's nothing
shameful in that much prudence; those are our tools.

Never mind about crossing your t's, dotting your i's-
but take care not to cover
one word with the next. Practice will reveal
how one hand instinctively comes to the aid of the other
to keep each line
clear of the next.

Keep writing in the dark:
a record of the night, or
words that pulled you from the depths of unknowing,
words that flew through your mind, strange birds
crying their urgency with human voices,

or opened
as flowers of a tree that blooms
only once in a lifetime:

words that may have the power
to make the sun rise again."

- Denise Levertov

2 comments:

MamaMonk said...

oh yes. i love denise levertov. sigh. it felt good to read these words. i've been struggling to recreate a writing space, to be discipline. just gotta keep writing, yes?

tamie marie said...

you know, in addition to being a beautiful poem, you know what strikes me about it? her authority in writing. there's not a shred of hesitancy in any line. she knows what she's about, and she has utter confidence in her words. this is how i want to write!