Never quite know what to say these days,
Some wisp of a thought floats by and
I snatch it with desperation like a starving man
Grasping the crumbs under the long-cleared banquet table.
The wealth of easy creativity with words seems a distant dream,
The faint echo of the foghorn heard round the bend downstream.
Now I wrestle with language as Jacob did with the angel.
Sometimes I get what I ask for, but
The cost is almost more than I can bear…
Never quite know what to say these days,
The similes and metaphors with halfway rhymes and rhythms
Fit poorly together in my mind…
Like the pieces of different jigsaw puzzles
Where the colors look oh-so-close-but-not quite…
Whatever the result,
At least I feel better for having tried!