The Gift

"Creativity is a gift.  Too many of us refuse it unwittingly.  Assaulted by self-doubt, we fail to believe that it has been put into our hands.  We diminish it by insisting that we should have been child prodigies.  We insist its only proof is commercial gain.  But the creative is a gift to us from another realm, and it comes to us when it comes." 
 -- Deena Metzger, Writing for Your Life

I went to a writers' retreat and I wrote.  I came home and stopped writing.  Something is going on and I'm not sure what it is but while it works itself out, I'm going to just post interesting thoughts from other people and an occasional past writing such as this poem which seems to fit Deena's thought. 

The Gift Refused

Wrapped in bows and bright paper,
       We know it must be for them.
      Surely, it can’t be for us.

It sits in the middle of our table.
     We walk a wide arc around it,
              Knowing it’s not for us.

Gradually bills, catalogs, and Sarah’s shoe
     Cover it over till only one red
              Corner of the bow peeks out

Luring the kitten whose playful swats
     Unravel the string.  Diamonds spill
               Across the table and onto the floor.