BECOME THEIR FATE

When you run out of ideas
when you shut down
when you realize you’re not original
not saying anything
a thousand others haven’t beaten you to – and better
will you please shut up?
Will you cease
your desperate attempts
to be something special
when you obviously
patently
are something less than that?

I hope so
but doubt it
because artists require those fallow periods
those empty months
those pale hours of doubt
to become their fate.

It is almost required
for the artist
and that’s what you’ve always been.
I just hope
that after the darkness
and after the doubt
and after the acceptance
that it is your eternal lot
to create
that you finally are capable
of creating something good.