a draft of the poem below
Questions for Mall Santas
Do you spend eleven months growing your beard
so kids can sit on your lap and pull, just to be sure?
Do you feel underpaid and overworked
or do you like hearing simple thoughts?
Do you feel wanted?
Do you enjoy the long lines and bouncing
babies? The occasional parental fight?
Do your own kids listen like these children do?
Do you think it’s strange how people let their children
sit in a another man’s lap but don’t say hello to strangers?
Do you rent to own the Santa suits?
Do you invest in steel-toed boots and do they protect
you from the tantrums?
Do you really have a white beard?
Do you feel self-mastery in your job?
Are you part of a union?
-SRM © 2012
As a poet, I struggle with my writing process. For instance, I know that I still haven't written the ending for this poem. In the past, one of the reasons I've stopped writing is out of frustration. I don't always know how to sustain my writing: how do I come up with prompts? Shouldn't I be writing every day? How do I revise?
Next time, I'll talk more about the writing process and an exciting writing venture one of my best friends and I are going to go on.
Tell us: How do you sustain working on your craft? Any tips?