Carve First, Explain Later (revised)

This drunken poem
was written to prove
it can be done.

It can be done:
a word at a time
is laid into place.

A small set
of letters
pressed into service here,

a longer string there,
and all at once
it’s done.

Only then
is it permitted
for me to fall asleep,

the labor perhaps
to be dismantled
in the morning

but it was worth doing, if only
to make a boast about control and
the nature of art:

the Work
is there for the doing
no matter your mood

or what myths
you tell yourself or others
about inspiration.

Carve first,
explain later — and
watch the poem

stagger over
and spit into the face
of the self-important Muse.