cooling
the ideas used to come easier, i remember
what is it i wrote about then?
what seemed so important it couldn’t wait
i couldn’t wait
to crawl back into my tent and sit by candlelight
and write
desperately, with the nub of a pencil i sharpened
with a razor blade
ideas i had to get out of my head and on to paper
ideas as hot as fire
leaping from my head as a man leaps from a burning building?
it is different now
i have doubled my years since then
ideas and observations have cooled
they come more slowly, if they come at all
when you’re 20 you have the luxury of fighting everything
but years have a way of making you choose your battles
so many times you forget why you ever fought most of them
your battles become putting food on the table for your family
or just keeping your family together
weathering the storms that come from age and boredom