The Artist Chased by the Muse

THE ARTIST, CHASED BY THE MUSE







How is it that one,
Churning and burning blind
As if under the gun,
Channels the soul to mind—


While ex-
       ploding from
                    rocket mind
                                  to
                    soul to mind,
the other
             froths by                        ?
chasing his
            tail, in
          a loose prat-
                             tling
                       of le-ave-s


Why is it that some,
Scraping and shaping brute
Scrap into triumph,
Tunnel up the chute—


as buried un-
           der a blather: tick
          tocks, hands, eye-ear-nose,
          doctor, lawyer, engineer;
              others
          under the torrent
             (suffer
         little children come
               under me)
Christ!  he says—                         ?
              get lost


2/27/81

"The Artist, Chased by the Muse" was first published in Monsters in a Half-way House, 1981.  Both "Pauline Grey" and "The Artist, Chased by the Muse" are inspired by a particular person that I knew in Tampa Bay and who was a source of both fascination and frustration.

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