Inspiration, That Flighty Kitten

Inspiration, That Flighty Kitten

by Kelley J. P. Lindberg

Inspiration, that flighty kitten,
is hard to keep to task.
The world is so full, after all,
of shine and color and rippling
sun-sparkles on fast-moving water,
drawing all six senses
in every direction away.
If I depend on her to get
anything done, this page will remain
opaque as white pixels.
It’s up to me, then,
and my butt-in-chair doggedness,
not my distractible muse,
to pull visions from air
and nail them
one
by one
by one
to the page.
Sometimes, though,
when I’ve forgotten about her,
clamped blinders on to narrow
my focus, hunched my shoulders
into the weight of the work,
she chooses that moment
to grow curious.
She lights on my fingers
to watch words pop
up onto the screen.

[Photo by Sereja Ris on Unsplash. NOTE: Not my actual kitten, more’s the pity.]