The Bad Muse & blogging

Big Frank is including a poem by Lawrence Raab from his book "What We Don't Know About Each Other". This poem was sent to Big Frank by his blogging buddy, Magne. It is is posted here because it seems appropriate to a lot of what Big Frank posts. As his brother, Big Fella, says: "Why don't you just send an e-mail to yourself?" Well, it's not the same for a lot of reasons. As Lawrence Raab puts it in his poem: ". . . yours/is the same old life a thousand people/ have had the good sense to keep to themselves". Well, Big Frank doesn't keep it to himself. He is selective: not everything gets deposited here (Big Frank will spare you the catalogue of what he doesn't post). Still, he is vulnerable to accusations of being under the influence of "The Bad Muse". But, while waiting for "The Good Muse" the posting will go on.

And with that . . . here is Raab's poem.

THE BAD MUSE

by Lawrence Raab

Calm down. No one's listening. Of course
you have the right to make mistakes.
Say anything you want, any dumb thing that
occurs to you. On the other hand,
it really does look bad, doesn't it?

And if anyone were foolish enough to print it
scorn and ridicule would be heaped upon you,
upon your family as well.
Think about them, if not yourself.
Someone in New Hampshire or California

is writing the important poem about history
at this very moment. Most of it
is done already. And this person
has had a life of great interest,
full of struggle and incident, whereas yours

is the same old life a thousand people
have had the good sense to keep to themselves.
Who wants to hear about what it was like
to turn forty, or the strange thing
your dog did last week? So relax.

Think of how good it will feel
to climb into bed and turn off the light.
And tomorrow is Sunday. You can read the papers,
go for a walk, cook outside. Friends will drop by.
Why not invite them all to stay for dinner?

And when the conversation gets really lively
and they're nodding in agreement
with everything you say, maybe someone
will ask you to tell that story—you know,
the one about the dog and the squirrel.