My Emotional View: Trying to Tap my Muse

Before the weekend I caught up with my reading. One fellow blogger, Conda, of Conda's Creative Center got me to thinking with her post: "Emotional Writing Pros and Cons."

I used to write very emotional prose. I felt a sense of release from spilling my heart out on paper. Now, unfortunately, a lot of my work is buried in the bottom of a filing cabinet. Silver fish and salamanders feast upon the bounty.

I do have a few relics laying about here. One is called "Night Storm," you can view it my clicking on the title. I was so proud of this one. I actually submitted it to a poetry contest. See how naive I am. I realized since that a lot of those contests are through vanity publishing companies. They are geared toward those vain enough to purchase the book just to see their work in print. I bought the book.

Back to Conda's post. I sat down this weekend and tried to fill a blank page with emotional words. Something that used to come so naturally to me has abandoned me. I am lost.

Perhaps I was trying to force it? Maybe I have too many thoughts to pin down?

For me the pros of writing emotionally would be the freedom you get from the flow of ink onto a page. The ink draws icons that represent the joy, sorrow, or pain one needs to release. The icons form phrases that make sense to the reader. The reader can show affinity to the emotion.

The cons of emotional writing could be related exactly as the pros. Adding to that, one is opening their heart and bearing their soul. What if someone stabs it?

Here's what I wrote:

I am inspired to tap my Muse on the shoulder,
She sleeps by a tree in field full of clover.
Awaken, I say softly in her ear,
She turns to me as the sleepy fog clears.

I hold out my hand to help her rise
She grasps it and lifts me up to the skies.
We soar through the clouds, free like birds
Expressing our thoughts with just the right words.