Washing Dishes, Writing Poems

I don't know about you, but when I wash dishes, my mind wanders. On a bad day, maybe I think about problems I can't solve. Do you have anything like that? Yes, yes. I know. On a better day, I think about problems that maybe I can solve. On the best days, I think about problems with stories or poems, problems that are fun to work with, even if there is no final untangling to their knots. This morning I was doing dishes and I thought for a while about how a book I've been reading to my children has a great scene that I might use as inspiration to jump start a novel I've been writing for longer than I care to admit. The scene is all about pursuit and danger and temporary rescue. I thought about that for a while and then, from nowhere, the first line of a poem came to me. I've learned not to ignore lines when they pop in from nowhere, so I sat down with pen and paper and a few minutes later I had this:


Conversation with a friend

She judged me for liking
the Byrds more than Dylan.

You know the type.

No?

Maybe that was what
I liked about her,
the certainty that
it even mattered.

If I say she radiated light,
will that make it more clear?

Jesus. What a cynic.
Haven't you ever been in love?

No?

Lucky you.

The thing is, I like Dylan.
Yes, even his voice.
Especially his voice.

Can you pass me that ashtray?
I want to give these things up
but it's so hard.

Look, we've known each other
for a long time. Can I tell
you something? It's just this:

I hold a thing in my heart
that no one sees,
an obvious, fundamental, thing
and I can't even say
what it is.

Isn't that crazy?

Laugh, if you want,
but I need answers:

Why are we invisible
when all we want
is to be
transparent?

Okay, fuck that.

Can I drink this beer?
It's the last one
but I'll buy more.

The girl?

I can't say she's gone
because she was never
here to begin with.

And you know?
The Byrds were a damned fine band.



So, that's the poem that came to me while I was washing dishes. Maybe it's okay, maybe it's not. But it feels good to get the words down. Always does.