listen:
your favorite writers
are always going to tell you
to write
to keep writing
your favorite writers
are going to tell you to write all the time
because they claim they did and you
(following along in their wake
like sweet little sleep deprived interns
in the Hospital Of Broken Hearts)
ought to damn well do the same
your favorite writers
are going to tell you to write
every day
tell you to churn thirty poems in thirty days
or a novel in a month
because that’s how it works
when the Fire is on them
that’s how they get to be favorite writers
the poor slobs
that’s how they get to be famous
a month of crazy at a time
maybe for a few months at a time
and voila the New Hotness doth arrive
listen:
your favorite writers will tell you
all sorts of things
to disguise the fact that they don’t have a clue
as to how this works
not really
they agitate for cause and effect
because not to is to suggest
a case for werewolves vampire
sghosts and zombies
not as literary devices and archetypes
but as the horrid afterbirth
of their own failed work
listen:
if your gut tells you the best thing for your writing
is to take a month offsquare your taxes
screw your neighbor hugely for hours at a time
walk your mother in the park
watch a lot of television
and drink
you owe it to yourself to try that
because when I look at my favorite writers
I see more of that
than the cold and sober work they prescribe
for all the whippersnappers and upstarts
formulas are for chemists and physicists
writers suck at them mostly
write when you want
how you want
where you want
interns
get some sleep
this ain’t life and death
no matter how it feels
in the moment
no matter how it feels
in the long haul
Dark Matter 
April 17th, 2012 at 4:12 am
hahaha. lol. In a way, true, the academic elite is always forcing people to see things one way. Although, there “is” merit in the writing challenges. 😀
April 17th, 2012 at 5:15 am
No question…just playing with some of the conceits behind them.