Wednesday, 28 May 2008

Essay Writing

Apple on the desk.
A swig of tea left in a mug beside the laptop
and strewn papers that fill the space.

It’s essay-writing time and
inspiration flicks off the walls
bounces round the books and forms,
through careful fingertips on the keyboard
an almost masterpiece of thought
and excitement
all captured on a page on a computer.
But it radiates much further
in changed thought and action
and the by-products of distraction
- the many things that get done when procrastination
threatens efficiency.

But essays get done
eventually,
with a smile and a change in style

and an apple on a desk
beside a cup of nearly-drunk tea.

Will you proof read my essay for me?

2 comments:

Bekki said...

Helen, this captures essay-writing amazingly - the kind of bitter-sweetness of it, the flights of inspiration and the hours spent doing anything other than the essay. Love the final line, too.

Funny thing is, I read this while I should have been writing my God & Creation essay!

Bekki.

Helen Crawford said...

The great thing is, I wrote it while I was working on Cross-Culture and Mission.

So glad you like.

(It's truly a by-product of distraction).