Advice To Aspiring Writers (Poetry)

(See also Roger McGough)

Don’t write unless you’re driven
like you haven’t got a choice
and the Muse is nagging frequent
with that wheedling small voice

When that drug is like no other
urges wake you in the night
and you grab for pen and paper
it’s essential that you write

down those pesky thoughts that plague you
whizzing round your bulging brain
and you scribble like a madman
half-delirious with pain

There’s an ecstasy addictive
and a crazy godlike state
lost in love with each creation
which too quickly turns to hate

Disillusion stalks the poem
hunts the clever novel down
then the editor gets cracking
and the red ink goes to town

It’s a lifetime job this writing
it will never let you be
a staid nine-to-five might bore you
but at least weekends are free