How I Write

How I Write—A Bit of Tickle for the Mind

by Melinda McIntosh    03/01/2014

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I start with little bits

And the bits begin to grow

End to end

Hand in hand

The bits begin to flow

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I never know which path they’ll take

Which twist and turn or loop they’ll make

I only know

For Heaven’s sake

I have to let them go

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Not all of them are useable

Not all of them are grand

Most of them are mutter-clutter

And mutter-stutter sand

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I keep the bits of mutter-clutter

And all the bits of mutter-stutter

Hoarded like a treasure trove

Of tangled golden bits I wove

Precious gems

Too good to pitch

Now junk plopped in a drawer

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They’re bits of just-in-case-I-need-them

And someday I just might

In the middle of a poem

In the middle of the night

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But today I’m moving on

With the poem now at hand

Trusting that my bits will wind

Beginning

Middle

End

To something that is useful

A bit of tickle for the mind

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The sound I want is rhythmic

The thought I want is pure

Some filler-bits

And in-betweens

Will round it out for sure

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No I never know quite where they’ll go

Or where they’ll find their end

But when it works

It’s mutter-magic

Like finding an old friend