Portrait of the poet as midwife
Some poems slip out easily
Thick and solid
Well-oiled and fully formed
Others must be coaxed out
Cajoled and courted
Labored over
Twisted and tweaked
Brought forth with grunting and
Bearing down
Pushed from the birth canal
Grabbed by the ankles
Slippery and dripping
Smacked on the arse
Until they scream aloud
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Author's Note
Published in the summer 2010 issue of UPROOTS.
Other stories by sean m. poole
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To quote my favorite lion, 'Ain't it the truth?"
Lovely use of metaphor! Now I know exactly why we call our writerly outpourings our 'babies'!
Sean,
See Gessy Alvarez's current poem in which she talks about "each female artist giving birth."
The metaphor of artistic birth is a common trope, going all the way back to the ancient Greeks. Plato, Shakespeare, Montaigne, Ibsen, Anderson, Mailer... and many other writers (male and female) all use it. You are in a proud tradition.
Conception--gestation--labor--birth--brainchild.
My unwritten dissertation: "The History and Progress of Biological Metaphors for Creation."
Enjoyed this, particularly the vivid end.
Good one Sean! Ain't that the truth? Seriously vivid imagery and power in brevity. *