The Artists Is a Lazy Man

  I.

Too often,

  The artist is a lazy man--

Too often,

  Doing everything he can,

To do nothing at all.

 

  II.

Too often,

  The poet fuses with a lazy pen--

Too often,

  Time and time, and time again--

Bringing forth nothing worthy at all.

 

  III.

How can I be so brash?

  I'm simply looking at the past;

Seeing creativity lying in ash,

  Every other time the die is cast.

 

  IV.

Too often,

  Muse is exhaled by idle hands--

Too often,

  By one who cares little where he stands;

If, in truth, he cares at all.

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

I'll have you know it's my muse who is the lazy one. I am often sat there with pen in hand looking for inspiration while she has cleared off yet again for a holiday in Blackpool. Sometimes I feel hard done by, but that's the way it goes. A poet's poem we have here.

Chris

[Wesley Dingler]

Not all artists are lazy, of course. This is just my mock impression of how uncreative I think so many of them are. Think of it not as physically lazy but mentally lazy. Creatively lazy.

[Melinda McQueen]

I know that feeling.
Well written.

[Wesley Dingler]

Thank you for reading Melinda. I hope you enjoy more and hope you have a wonderful week.

[Red Brick Keshner]

These are very real moments or modes that seem to be plentiful. And they also appear to make the ride even more interesting.

[Wesley Dingler]

I have to agree they do in fact.

[Ruby Heggie (PB Jacobs)]

I agree. The right way, the wrong way, the lazy person's way, as an old friend of mine put it. You are the bomb of a writer, and from what I see, you got a lot of practice. For some lazy artists, look on the bright side. Something is better than nothing.

[Wesley Dingler]

Thank you PB. I am glad you liked this. This was a much younger me speaking here but it is funny how little my opinion on the matter has changed since my mid twenties. Looking back I suppose I could have sounded a little less up my own a*s here but my point remains and is driven home more i feel by every crap movie remake and every hack song cover. But I digress.

Thanks again for reading and have a great week my friend.

[Betty Hermelee]

I think these empty pages and canvases are phenomenon not of laziness but of want...artists are of a different sort and they do not stay on schedules... so sometimes they go blank on purpose waiting for the right inspirations to come their way... they can be very temperamental at times therefore creativity can be sparse..where is my muse????
Best, B.

[Wesley Dingler]

That is one way of looking at it. And a perfectly fine way at that.

[Betty Hermelee]

Thanks! and You're welcome!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I've been the subject of this poem...too often.
You capture so well here how we berate ourselves as artists. I guess we all want to write the classic poem...but fall short and then stew in our own pen's blood...feeling we never quite do enough.
j.

[Wesley Dingler]

Thank you Jacob. I probably think this sort of thing tok often myself. Especially when i was younger.

[h d e rushin]

what at first looks like malaise, is sometimes just helplessness. Since poetry means that you didn't have anyone to talk to. (Wasn't it the Protestant ethic that stressed virtue, hard work, thrift and self discipline? lol) Parts of poetry are protest, antibodies, heartache, residue, virtue, ash, peptides , iron, sulfur, wild animals, stench, love, climbing, the lord, homelessness, romance, power, old age, culture and truth. I remember that episode of "Star Trek The Next Generation" when Dr Crusher was trying to teach Data how to dance. "These are a very complex set of variables to comprehend" , he said.." Sometimes freedom so closely resembles protest, that from a distance, they look exactly the same....nice write...dana

[Wesley Dingler]

Thank you.

[Ruby Heggie (PB Jacobs)]

Some people really are mindless idiots.

[Wesley Dingler]

Aren't they though?

[Ruby Heggie (PB Jacobs)]

Yeah, but I don't want to talk myself into a stereotypical rut, where I think all people are like that. It's not fair.

[Ruby Heggie (PB Jacobs)]

With me, I'm lazy on purpose because of covid. I gotta be a hermit, or get covid.