tangled tide of sheets, it's early...
(feline early,
meaning they are not up nor
are they getting up anytime soon.)
But I am and have to be!
It's time to chase the magic,
well, more like try to find it.
AND then chase it down and
wrestle it to the page, willing or unwilling,
good or awful, trite or profound,
something must be netted at this time!
Cause this is my job...
and I am showing up for it.
This time? From 5 to 7.
Before the world wakes up
outside my window, inside my computer
(social media distractions, stay away, stay away.)
Two hours to write something before
the dog starts to block my path,
(the one I walk the same time everyday
just in case I forgot I had ONE ,
she thinks tripping over her might
help her cause.)
Before the phone stars to buzz with texts
and demands and inquires,
equally impossible to ignore.
Before I start to get 'Leadership head'
more planning, more fussing, more fretting!
So I make the perfect cup of coffee,
sit at my dining room table,
not glancing in the direction
of the pouty dog
and stare out the window
for any sign of the sun and
I am ready to begin the process...!
The process?
This would be where I write about it,
I suppose!
Except... I don't really have one
and quite frankly I should BY now!
For me it's always been random.
like while driving somewhere
and making an erratic stop,
to jot a phrase that sometimes
feels handed to me from the heavens,
and usually a one shot deal.
A take it or 'we are finding someone else
whose NOT driving' to give it to!
It's the kind of gift
that can happen in the grocery store
or paddling
(a very inconvenient time for inspiration)
it happens in conversation.
In which, I get a certain look
and am handed a pad of paper,
by observant friends.
Before the Rikii MuZe
contract was signed,
I was on fire,
writing on butcher papered doorways,
wipe and erase boards, chalkboards even
on any scrap of paper I could find,
my house littered with them
and notebooks started, lost,
a new one started and lost!
But in that time of chaotic creativity
Rikii MuZe was born, his name brainstormed
on a June day...
with my closest friend,
bouncing the spewing nonsense back to me,
while paddle boarding.
His name had to be just right,
I don't even think
I realized the responsibility
at the time, it was just fun!
We'd laugh, knowing right away NO that's not it,
it had to fit and be the name of a poet,
a poet extraordinaire.
Wanting to incorporate lyric or limerick or rhymes,
some poetic reference!
Wish, I could remember the other names,
but I don't, only the moment I said his name out loud
on the west side of the island,
standing in the middle of the lake...
it was a 110 degree day and I GOT the chills,
and knew it was right!
Rikii MuZe, with two i's like bunny ears
and muse with a capital Z.
I had found him and he had found me.
This is the magic!
The magic, I am looking for this morning.
Hmm? Wondering if
those fuzzy fleece cloud patterned pants
will provide inspiration?
You know, like if one is 'reaching for the sky,'
it will be more likely to occur while
wearing cloud pants. Right?
I put them on , grab another cup of coffee
and close the door on the mopey popey dog!
And...still nothing!
Back to the story:
In the months to follow,
there were many more moments to match that one!
A list of funny names begin rattling in my head
collected from wherever they come from!
Tuttle Pod's name inspired by an email
from Tuttle and Page,
(some business I have yet
to get another e mail from????)
My hippie gypsy friend and mother of four told me
a story about a make believe
character her child believed in.
With the very complicated name of Toe Dee Knony,
(took awhile to figure out the spelling on that one.)
Another friends misspelled name gave me, Jillie Gee!
My favorite poet turned into Rumi Roo
and on it went.
I had so many ideas
soon, I was running from papered door to papered door,
scribbling the ideas as THEY chased me down.
"Wait, wait, I would yell I am out of paper!"
NOW! It's an hour later,
the sun is up and still nothing...
oddly enough, 'rabbits' have taken over the yard,
hopping here and there and everywhere!
The plain beige ones
that don't get Rikii's polka dotted pinkness.
Called Willy Nilly and TanDum Jack,
UGH, are they all taunting me?
Hmmm! Maybe my lucky race bandanna will help,
the one with the cross bones and skulls,
and of course the socks that match!!
Right away, I know these clothing additions
are NOT going
to provide any 'word juice' other than
probably... Arghhh!
So anyways the story:
Soon, I had 22 animal names,
a clear concept of Rikii's qualities
and philosophies and an outline of four stories.
At that time, it was ALL I could think of!
A road trip the end of June,
with my funny bright best friend, Mary Lou,
that should have
taken only six hours and instead lasted ten!
With nine U turns or more, we ended up in Mexico,
rather than our destination, San Diego.
But in the process...
we manage to connect the names to all the animals
and although lost more often than not,
magic was definitely on board for that trip!
So? Do I NEED to take a ten hour trip then?
Have paper ready at the drop of a thought,
wake up in the middle of the night
nagged by something, that won't let me sleep....
I guess so because....
Sitting here in my fuzzy cloud pants,
lucky skull and cross bones race bandanna on,
(& matching socks)
with the perfect cup of coffee,
and tattered rhyming dictionary at the ready,
while a whole family of rabbits multiplies
before my eyes,
is getting me nothing....
nata... no magic.
Its 7 and time to begin my other life
and all I wrote is this blah, blah blog
about the process or rather
the un~process of beginning!
So I decide to....
Pam Piper Rain
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