Last night, I engaged in conversation with the muse until the wee hours of the morning, something that hasn’t happened in a long time. She kept me awake, scribbling one poem after another in my notebook. The moment I’d jot down what I thought was the last one, I’d return to bed and the second my head found the cloud of my pillow, ready for sleep, my muse would shout more strings of words at me.
And I mean shout! It wasn’t this gentle request to please write down the flood of words. No. It was a bossy demand, an “I won’t allow you to sleep until you write eleven more poems.”
I could have chosen to ignore her, of course, but why would I want to when she offers me a cornucopia of ideas?
Though I’m functioning on little sleep today, I don’t feel exhausted. Surprisingly, I feel wide awake and full of vitality.
Full moon magic? I wonder. Whatever the cause of this sudden burst of artistic activity, I awakened considering the cycles of creativity and wondering if there is a way to encourage the muse to visit daily, in small doses, instead of in enormous midnight bursts before fizzling out for weeks at a time. And I wondered why she chose last night of all nights to pay me a visit after maintaining a stubborn silence for so long.
I don’t have an answer to these questions but wanted to share them to see if you have any thoughts about this.
Has the muse visited you recently? What is your experience with creativity? Is it cyclical for you too?
It’s not that I don’t create every day, because I do. Even cooking meals is an art form for me. It’s just that there’s a difference between creating because it’s who you are and creating because there seems to be a force greater than you, outside of you, who guides you and whispers the words (or instructions) to you.
Do you know what I mean? If this doesn’t make sense, you can blame the muse for only granting me an hour or two of sleep.
Before I share lines from a new poem, this is a reminder that my poetry book, True North, is out in the world. If you’ve read it already, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
And if you missed my announcement on Instagram, I’ll just share again here that I have poems in two fortchoming anthologies! The first is the Autumn 2022 Anthology by Querencia Press, which publishes on Samhain (October 31, 2022), and the second is The Wistful Wild: Fairy Tale Poems of Longing and Ferocity, which releases on Imbolc (February 1, 2023). I had no control over the release dates, so I think it’s pretty cool both anthologies are fortchoming on holy days when I chose Mabon (September 22, 2022) as the release date for True North.
Now, as promised, lines from a new poem.
You mystify me
with your testimony
of feathered flowers
proof of ashes
scattered from your heartbeat
to mine.
—Caitlin Gemmell
Oh what a lovely line! Thank you for sharing it with us. I find it hard to sleep during the full moon as well...I have so much creative energy pent up during that time! I'm sure it doesn't help that I am a white moon cycle as well, so my estrogen and energy levels are always right at their peak then, too.
Ugh, this makes me miss childhood. I remember communing with my muse all day and night, never feeling exhausted from staying up late drawing or writing.
Your poem is absolutely beautiful. And congrats on your poetry book! :)