Inspiration is a privilege.
Not everyone gets a visit
by a beautiful Greek goddess in a flowing white gown.
One who whispers entire stories, poems, books
in their ear
For most of us, there is no muse
to dictate fully formed award-winning work
We have a regular cleaning lady
dressed in a wrinkled housecoat
scarf protecting her hair from the dirty work
Cleaning the ideas, bad and terrible
from the mind.
Dumping them on paper
like so much trash.

Passion is a privilege.
Not everyone gets to
do the work that fills their soul
The lucky few have Passion as a ShizTsu
Lounging on the sofa and admiring their great deeds
while sipping champagne from the water dish.
Ending the day with the joy
of saving the world
of putting out great work
of simply being themselves.
The rest of us, those who need to eat and live and wear clothes
we have Responsibility and Habit
the team of border collies that get us to work on time
— someone has to make the donuts
someone has to fix the brakes
someone has to shelf the five-pound sugar bags–
They nip at our heels so we pay the bills on time,
have groceries instead of take-out
and to make sure we post some piece of sh*t every day.