To My Muse

By: Victoria G. Smith

 

Oh calm sublime,
oh sacred time:
How elusive you are
to this mortal scribe!
Might you appoint
your charms to bless,
This creator-soul’s
restlessness?
Poet’s Notes: I have had great luck lately in having more and more of my newer works published in national U.S. literary journals. It’s always like the first time for me whenever a publisher says, “We’d like to publish your work.” That is, I experience the same
thrill I experienced when I received my first acceptance notice from a major publisher. But as more and more publishers pick up more and more of my works, the challenge to come up with new creations becomes more urgent. This is a good problem to have for a
writer, I know. And I am truly both honored and humbled by this nice dilemma. This is the stuff that writers dream of, what inspires writers’ envy in some.

But now, my increasing publishing success compels me to be even more aware and respectful of the larger responsibilities inherent in the privilege of getting a larger and more exacting audience: There is absolutely no room for inauthenticity. Not that I ever wrote one insincere word. It’s just that now the pressure is even greater to conform— to produce what sells easiest, what many usually like to read—in order to keep the success rolling, until I remember that what got me here, what led me to this happy conundrum was sticking to my guns by sticking to my unique and authentic voice, in the first place. That my “outsider” immigrant writer’s voice is being given a greater platform to be heard is a remarkable statement for contemporary U.S. publishing. And I am also acutely aware of the fact that what are giving me a greater voice out there aren’t the old gate guards of the U.S. publishing world, but the many hard-working and innovative new and younger editors who are becoming increasingly globally-oriented, rather than merely U.S.-focused in their taste for art and literature. They are the interested, curious risk-takers, the ones who are making a difference in the U.S. publishing world today because they are willing to take a chance on the works of someone like me. And thus, I am deeply grateful to them.

I cannot adequately explain in words to a non-writer how a poem happens for me, or an essay, or how a scene from a work of fiction I’m working on develops. All I know is that I sit before my computer enduring the agonizing moments when no words come out, or they come out badly and the delete button is what becomes busy. I tell myself over and over again: Be true to yourself. Be true to every word you write. And the magic happens soon enough. My Muse proves faithful and invariably delivers, as I remain faithful to myself. (Copyright © 2015 by Victoria G. Smith)