Fighting Words

I don't know what to write anymore 
so the evening comes 
and I reach for coffee 
and cigarettes 
go and sit at the small desk 
in the hallway 
blank pages mocking me 

they laugh 
knowing that the pen I 
hold listlessly in my fingers 
will never touch 
the clean lines below 

there is so much that needs 
to be written 

so much that needs to come out 
while the words 
of a friend 
drift through my mind.... 

"Never, ever write what SHOULD be written" 

I argue with myself 
my writing 
afraid 
to violate some unwritten rule 
by needing something so badly 

finally words are born 
the struggle to answer 
questions 
immediately fought by 
the questioning of answers 

a never ending circle 
of words, poetry, 
that is mine and mine alone.


©Donna J. P. Riley