An Artist's Superpower

I am blessed with ADD.  I say blessed, because as a writer, I never want for images and ideas.  It is my superpower.   The challenge is in spotting and nurturing the seed that will bear fruit. Sometimes it is exhausting, the plates spinning in my head with ideas for essays, poems, collages, tangled up with replays of work emails and conversations, random tweets, phrases I’ve read somewhere, scenes of films, themes of soundtracks.  It’s crowded in there, sometimes claustrophobic, as if I need a mental decongestant. Despite the exhaustion, it can be very hard to sleep.  Keeping a journal nearby helps.  I can reach for the light, scrawl a few lines, and feel, for a few moments at least, lightened enough to breathe deep and drift off to sleep. 

This piece is brought to you by a particularly crowded evening of #micropoetry,  political debate on Facebook, magical realism, Margaret Atwood, Oscar Wilde, Albus Dumbledore, Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ , a ‘Yes’ album cover, and an unfortunate incident with a ball of silk mohair yarn.

Ignition

 

Poet sits on a cloud

eyes open, transcending

the misery below.

Pen extends, stirs

draws up a thread

from the tangle.

Thread curls into words

words drop earthward

detonating smart bombs

in the urban jungles.