Dianne M Wilhelm Poetry

i. I went swimming in Lake Michigan once.
The waves there on a windy day
are as subtle as elephants under the carpet.
As I tumbled in footloose submergement,
all I could think was - "Courage!
This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon."
That night, I dreamed I was dying.
In the morning I told my brother, for full five minutes
I couldn't see and I couldn't breathe.
He said, "Did you time it?"
(A writer's block now sits where my keyboard used to be.)

ii. I think the Muses must live on the other side of the world.
By the time I receive their suggestions,
they're suffering from jet lag.
I once got up six times after midnight -
The telegram came through piecemeal.
Inspiration is a nightengale
Whistling farewell and tucking head under wing
even as I'm waking.
Discouragement is a storm-tossed raven
with soul-burning eyes, always on duty
That faithful ghoul

iii. It's been one of those days all my life,
when tall, think Jones is too slow-walkin', too slow-talkin'
to save Sweet Sue from the railroad tracks.
Sometimes the vorpal sword is useless against Jabberwocky
Sometimes the vampire orders garlic bread.
My typewriter keys have been clinging together for days
in the limbo between their individual resting places
and the blank white of an unused page.

iv. Authors Wanted: How to Submit a Manuscript
If there's light at the end of the tunnel -
It would have to be a train.
The reality of rejection hits like a hundred thousand
Pounds of driving steel -
The "Sorry, not a winner" of cereal box tops and pop bottle caps,
While acceptance is as elusive as a fading whistle
and pay is a dream across the river.

Poet: Dianne M Wilhelm