Writer’s Worry

We scheme and connive

Always looking for

Always planning for

The next beat

The way it all unfolds

Beneath pen

Key

Thumb

Somehow we have deemed

That we

And only we

Can tell this story

Can shape the land

Call it what you want

Hubris, I think is most fitting

Yet we are still here

Still so sure that this is right

That we still will write

What the world needs

What will effect the most

And what will be remembered

Directional Ambiguity

“This way!”

I cried to my companions

Backpack jostling

As I crested the top

A sea of pines

Spilled out below me

Stretching on beyond horizon

Completely unbroken

I stopped

And hesitated a moment

Pulling out my map

Squinting at the formations

Then flipping it over

Considering all angles

Soon my comrades caught up

“Well?”

One wheezed as he collapsed

Pulling out waterskin

And quenching thirst

“I may

Or may not

Have absolutely no idea

Where we are…”

Quint Tackles Writer’s Block

Furious boiling rage

Fists clenched and facing typewriter

“Damned words come out!”

Voice ripping static aside

Grasps sides with pale gloves

Set leaning down close to keys

“I’ll find you in there

You’ll come out

If I have to come in there myself

And drag you out screaming!”

The static then actually cleared

Teeth lining up on screen

Sharp toothed and dripping bile

Spreading slow and growling

The typewriter sits silent and stoic

Frustrated groan twirl away arms up in defeat

“Fine then!”

He grabs his port

Tipping back onto screen

Where teeth are open

Poured into

Past screen

Into mouth?

Or something close

Quint groans as he sets it down

Rubbing a glove over screen

“Give me SOMETHING!”

He bellows slapping the desk

Typewriter dings

As it reaches the end

“…

You’re mocking me aren’t you…”

He grumbles

Slouching back in his chair

He idly fiddles with a key

Gloved finger

Tracing its edge

Then depresses

Then another

Another key

And more

“I told you I’d get it out of you!”

He cries triumphantly

Fingers flying freely

And back we pull away and into the dark

Quint Ponders Plot

Towering over typewriter

Quint ponders his protagonists plight

His suit is crisp clean and carmine

Cuff links lit by dull candlelight

Slowly he surfs his channels of thought

Hand clicks dial over one to two

Static stays but something does form

A bloodied and battered sword

Yes this is it the final piece!

Quint types rapidly

Rapturous plot

His head tilts back as he laughs

Voice crackling over airwaves

As he reaches the end and sets it aside

He rubs white gloves hands over face

Cathode Ray screen

A finger touches letters he knows very well

Worn and incomplete now only read

“Pan____ic”

A sigh rumbles static

And he fingers the switch

Flicks up

Shuts off

And sleeps for the day