Here’s to the ordinary
There is more to the Muse than finding inspiration and the right words to express it. It is beyond splashing colour across an artist’s canvas or aiming the camera at exactly the right angle.
Innate objects, inventions, tools and activities were inspired by some creative pursuit. Many ideas are overlooked or taken for granted by our taste for recognition and glory.
The Muse’s influence is everywhere and we are never separate from it. We just think we are.
For this poem, I collected all the words I could that rhyme with Muse. Then, I fiddled and juggled and let them find their rhythm to tell the story. When I started, they were just ordinary words. Together, they tell a story.
The story is one of two friends getting together to relax and share their Monday evening and the start of a new week.
It is reminiscent of those times I’ve spent with friends, when even the silence speaks. When the ordinary is much more than ordinary.
This poem is about being supported by the creative possibilities around you. It is about appreciating the ordinary.
Mundane Monday Muse
This special space friends can’t refuse,
munching moments and cashews,
sharing time, breaking through,
a good boyfriend, a bad hairdo.
Gentle chatter, words diffuse,
now staring at the other’s shoe,
profile steady, thoughts enthused,
by a sentimental interlude.
Drawing waves like a swift canoe,
past writer’s words and painter’s hues,
and finely crafted tall statues,
and faded butterfly tattoos.
To a coffee table with crossword clues,
a trusted silver wing corkscrew,
a glass of wine, a pot of stew,
flavored by some rhythm and blue.
Mundane seeks not to bemuse,
but to imagine poets and lofty views,
where the innate artist’s breath ensues,
to unveil the mundane Monday Muse.
Photo Credit: DanDeChiaro
patricia
Hilary
Tony Single
Linda
Barbara Swafford
Deb Dorchak
Chris Edgar
{ 23 comments }
LOL! Davina you used a similar trick to the one I often use. If I’m looking for a rhyming word, I’ll just replace the consonant in alphabetical order and maybe add a prefix to make a word: so for muse I might get – abuse, recuse, dooze(y), fuse, hues, jews, lose, news, pews, ruse, Suze, views, youse (fuggedaboutit), zoos. Works best if you just run through the alphabet out loud quickly. Then you can start with I forget what you call the two-letter sounds like “cl” for clues and “st” for stews, like you had. The ways we can spark creativity!
.-= Betsy Wuebker´s last blog ..Hunting and Cooking with Wild Morel Mushrooms =-.
This absolutely wonderful, your poem has such a lyrical rhythm, it really was a delight to read. And it encapsulates such a timeless sentiment; do not take the mundane for granted, be thankful for the little things in life.
I found your blog through Barbara’s Blogging Without A Blog and I am very happy that I did, can’t wait to read your future posts :)
.-= Sam Liu´s last blog ..Eternal Seasons – A Poem =-.
That was cool. I haven’t tried that writing exercise before.
I let surrendered to my muse today and created a comic strip. Strangely enough, I was just trying to write a blog post about caller ID and the comic just solidified in my mind.
Funny how the muse works, isn’t it?
.-= Chase March´s last blog ..Missed Opportunity – A Lego Comic Strip =-.
Hi Betsy.
Oh, I LIKE dooze to rhyme with Muse! That… I could USE :-) It’s so cool the fun you can have with words. Like spices and cooking, actually. And I know you and Pete know about cooking.
Hi Sam.
Hey, nice to see you over here. Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed this. I see you are a poet too, so I’ll have to come check out your blog.
Hi Chase.
I just read your comic — it’s funny. Good promotion for caller ID :-) You know, I think that’s when we feel blocked from our Muse; when we want an idea to go a certain way and we try to force it. So, you surrendered and let the story be told. Cool.
Cooking muse was in high order today and I went back to my mundane way of making pork chops (slow cooking in apple juice and onion for 2 hours) and baking potatoes…my husband dashed in and out between rain downpours to eat and trade off working on raised garden beds that have developed problems with too much water overload…The house smelled good kind of fallish.
I think it is the mundane which supports our breathing and getting pulled together….relaxes like a glass of wine with a friend….or vacuuming just because it is the right day…???
Neat, nice post here – Thank you
.-= patricia´s last blog ..Arm Chair Traveling =-.
Your poem made me miss a certain friend who lives overseas.
.-= vered | blogger for hire´s last blog ..Do You Believe That “Retail Is For Suckers?” =-.
Hi Davina – This is fabulous! I love what you’ve done with the words, and there’s such a wonderful sense of connection that comes through between the two friends. Made me want to be there.
.-= Patty – Why Not Start Now?´s last blog ..Meaning Mondays: The Unfolding Path Edition =-.
Hi Davina .. gosh the picture assaults you .. its colours really push out .. that is not mundane! Then we’ve got your post .. and then we’ve got Betsy giving us some insights on composing .. crumbs – good Monday .. and now I read the post – belatedly! I see you too .. musing along …
That’s lovely .. I loved the words and how you tied it all together .. clever girl! The Muse certainly seems to be working her magic .. have tuning Tuesday, wonderful Wednesday, thriving Thursday and then it’s the weekend .. whoo hoo .. as jannie would say! Have a great time .. hugs from here .. happiness too .. Hilary
.-= Hilary´s last blog ..The Silent Pianist Speaks … =-.
Hi Patricia.
That way of cooking pork chops doesn’t sound THAT mundane. They sound delicious. I love when your house has that aroma from cooking yummy dishes. I usually just fry mine with a sprinkle of thyme. Now, vacuuming = mundane.
Hi Vered.
I hope that is a good thing. :)
Hi Patty.
Thanks :) Methinks you’ve been there, too; crackling fireplace, woolly socks and silence between conversations. It’s great when you can be with people and not be awkward with the silence.
Hi Hilary.
Thanks. Isn’t that picture brilliant? Popping the cork :) It would be a good experiment to take all these words and rearrange them into a different poem. Even a different topic.
Oh, I loved this on this Monday morning! It, in itself, is inspiring!
Friendship or relationships are wonderous. I believe that the silences can speak volumes – sometimes they are the moments to treasure.
.-= The Exception´s last blog ..There is so much more… =-.
HI Davina, a great command of words you have, I particularly like the coffee table with crossword clues, corkscrew and a glass of wine! A perfect evening, I would say!
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
.-= Mandy Allen´s last blog ..Helping out where we can =-.
Fabulous! The words *and* the friendship:)
.-= Joy´s last blog ..Monday Blessing: A Resounding Yes…. =-.
What an awesome picture. I like the way you described the process to write this poem.
The result is a great poem.
I enjoyed this, Davina. For some reason, I imagined this as a Natalie Merchant song. Yeah, it could definitely be words for a song, I think. Do you have musical ability or know someone who does? :)
Hello The Exception.
Great :-) I agree… those moments of silence DO speak volumes; especially the comfortable silences.
Hi Mandy.
Thanks for popping by to leave a comment. Yes… the simple things in life are just like the tiny threads that hold a spider’s web together. I hope you don’t mind that spider’s metaphor :)
Hi Joy.
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed. :)
Hi Jim.
Thanks. I think the picture is brilliant. Pretty appropriate accident… if you think about ‘popping the cork’.
Hi Tony.
Glad you enjoyed this. I DO know somebody with musical talent. She’s been in these parts before… hmmm. Wonder what Jannie would think about putting music to this? :-D
I like how a few of the right words can say so much. For some reason, munching moments and cashews … and faded butterfly tattoos, say a lot.
.-= J.D. Meier´s last blog ..Why We Make Bad Decisions – Errors in Odds and Errors in Value =-.
Hi Davina,
Leave it to you to come up with this. Ingenious, and beautiful.
Your poem reminds me of times spent with girlfriends. When words don’t matter, but we know exactly what the other one is saying.
.-= Barbara Swafford´s last blog ..Are Blogs Dying? =-.
Hi J.D.
Words are flexible. It’s interesting how we can mix them up and come out with a completely different meaning. And… how our imagination can attach meaning to certain words.
Hi Barbara.
Thank you. I love those moments when you just ‘know’, without having to say anything… just drinking in the moment.
I love it, Davina. Your muse is suffused with juice.
Hi Belinda.
My face is suffused with a big grin, thanks. I learned a new word today. :-D
Davina,
I love it when you muse takes over and makes you play. This is such a wonderful poem and clever. It is interesting how you created it and let it grow on it’s own.
You have one powerful muse. I like both of you very much:~)
.-= Sara´s last blog ..Where You Ought to Be =-.
I liked what you said about overlooking ideas in our quest for fame and riches . . . I know I’ve been digging out some very old ideas I had because I thought “they just wouldn’t work” at the time, meaning of course that they wouldn’t make me a billionaire. :)
Hi Sara.
Thanks :-D It’s really cool to play with words and different techniques. Like doing a puzzle actually; one where there is no picture on the box though.
Hi Chris.
I wonder what mood you were in when you listened to those thoughts. A lot of times when we are in our worst moods and we write things down… and come back to it later, we find it to be our best stuff. Other times we feel really pumped and write exuberantly, and we hate what we write. What do you think about that?
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