addiction is like this

sometimes there is nothing else except for the pen, the ink,
the paper, me, and the muse

Or get modern. Sometimes there is nothing but me the
monitor, the keyboard, the words, and sweet inspiration

looking at the blank paper
looking at the blank screen

watching the words take shape
something comes out of nowhere

a moment to allow for effect
then immediately
on to the next

junkies know this

so do writers

so do you

  — Father Luke (b. 1959), American poet. Reprinted with permission.
  — For more, see FatherLuke.com

TO THE PRESENT TENSE

By the time you are
by the time you come to be
by the time you read this
by the time you are written
by the time you forget
by the time you are water through fingers
by the time you are taken for granted
by the time it hurts
by the time it goes on hurting
by the time there are no words for you
by the time you remember
but without the names
by the time you are in the papers
and on the telephone
passing unnoticed there too

who is it
to whom you come
before whose very eyes
you are disappearing
without making yourself known

  — W.S. Merwin (b. 1927), American poet, Pulitzer Prize winner