Poetic Insiration

Thoughts About Poetic Inspiration


The misty fog of sleep
Yields waking moments of inspiration.
In the darkness I wrote as best as I could between
The shadows on the paper on my desk.

A bit of poetry creeping through my mind...
A stray cat floats through my yard,
It sticks there, like the image in your eye
After a bright object scores your retina.

Stumbling around in half-sleep
Grasping for a pen to write down
Nobel winning words…
I must capture it before it floats away.

Finally my eyes focus on the paper
And I write in large hand
Hoping the words will be recognized
By a sane and fully awakened bard.

The next day, this dreamer wonders
If the dream is real… did I write it down?
Yes! It's there… barely legible
Waiting for a strong hand to bend the words.

The very event inspires me.
That a moment in time… takes on reality
And the words that came to me in the dark
Make a difference to the somnolent reader.


(somnolent= tired, weary)

by Richard D Harris

Another Jazz Event

It was a perfect summer evening in upstate NY and the church had a large tent they use for Vacation Bible School. They left it up for my event, and took down the dividers and put card tables up for an evening of music and entertainment. The church worked hard at advertising and 'word of mouth'. The tables were decorated beautifully by the Pastor's wife and crew. Although there were not as many as they wished, it was a wonderful evening, and everyone who came expressed appreciation for effort of providing the music and evening.

Some lessons learned:
1. Try to keep abreast of local events and things that might be a conflict with the church event.
2. Encourage people to be asking and reminding people about the event, and then make one last call to help them remember that they said they were coming to the event.
3. Don't worry about who is there or who is not there. Leave those things in the Lord's hands.... he is much better at it than we are!

On the whole the program I presented gave the church some ideas on how to do it 'next time', and tweek things to have things ready for the next event.

I love doing this, and I am gratified that the church family were so very enthusiastic.