Word Play

Yesterday
I wrote.

I wrote all afternoon
Because it took
All morning to
Get started.

Getting started was
Hard to do.

I had to get some things
Off my desk first —
Some forms that needed forming up,
Some emails that needed emailing,
The cat.

And once all of those
Things were taken
Care of,
There was procrastination
To deal with.

That guy is a beast!

I was polite about it.
I went and got coffee,
But he was still
There when I got back.

I watered the outdoor plants,
Still there.

I changed my shoes,
Opened windows,
I mailed a letter…

Finally,
I just decided
To leave him there
On the desk
And start playing
Around on the
Floor with a bunch
Of words.
It was about 12:30 by then.

The cat made it clear
He thought I was a little
Crazy,
And huffed away.

So there I was on the
Floor
With scraps of paper,
Bits of journal entries,
An outline that
Wasn’t working –
At all.

And I just began to play.

I had planned to write for
A while and stop for lunch.

At 1:30 I finished sorting things out,
Moved to my desk
And set to writing in earnest,
Thinking, OK, I’ll work ‘til 2:00
Then I’ll stop for lunch.

At 2:30 my husband called
To check in – how sweet.
I disposed of him
Quickly.
Just another half hour
Then I’ll stop for a while.

At 3:30 my mother-in-law rang.
I put the phone on silence
And pretended I didn’t see
The voicemail.
Just five more minutes.

(Forgive me Mom
But you are the one
Who encouraged me
To write.
So I took a chance
You would understand.)

At 4:30 I finally broke
Reluctantly,
Very reluctantly,
To go to the bathroom,
Shovel down some food,
And get dressed for the day,
Thinking that if I was fast
I could come back and get in
Another half hour before my
6:00 appointment.

I was feeling like a small child
Being wrenched from her
Favorite toy.

I haven’t had so much fun
In years!

Turns out
The hardest part
Isn’t starting —
Its stopping.

As you can see
From the length of
This joyous report.

JEHW
July 30, 2014