The Muse

Posted Fri Jun 14, 2002 in

Please go over to JimFormation and read this1. It’s good, very good.

Now, for my own thoughts.

I’m afraid that my muse escapes me more often than not. I know her voice, and hear it often, particularly when I’m out in the middle of nowhere Texas, on my motorcycle, listening to the purr of the engine and the wind about my body. There, she speaks, sometimes softly, sometimes shouting. I try to hold onto the words, or the the images that begs to be made, and sometimes I do. Othertimes the thoughts and images drift away into the turbulent wake of me and my bike… lost to me and to anyone who might read or see them. I grieve for those words.

Yesterday, while riding out in the middle of nowhere Texas, I decided that I need to carry a paper notebook in my tankbag, a complement to my camera. When the muse sings, I will stop and write the words down; or I’ll stop and make that image that cries out to me “here I am!” even if pressed for time or in a hurry to return home to hearth and family, I will stop and capture my muse. I’ve already lost enough images and words to fill a book.

I originally left this as a comment on Jim’s site. Then, I reconsidered, cut out the text from the comment box and decided to post it here.

1 [Added 24 October 2010] Apparently Jim’s archives are no longer online. That’s a shame, because he had some good material there.

  1. you know, i used to fancy myself a writer. and, really, i'm not. pretty good blogger, but not a Writer. thing is, this is utterly and perfectly ok. the things i take and craft into a blog, from design to code to pictures to words, don't require a muse, per se, more like a conscious relaxation, a willingness to put my self out in cyberspace.

    huh. i might just post about this. but you saw it here first.

    — kd    14 June 2002, 23:25    #