Tangled Words

The keyboard will not move
Without my will
Beating down on it
The poems will not
Write themselves
And they're trapped
Inside my brain
I can hear them clicking around
Like three lone rice grains
In a box too big to contain them
So I write the words "happy," "content,"
Dare I say, "love"?

I stare at them incredulously
Hear my own repeated whisper
"Show, don't tell"
But how do I paint happiness
With unfamiliar ink?
My muses don't recognize this
I learned to write poetry
In angst-filled pimply teenage years
When muses only responded
To "pain," "anger"
Dare I say, "helplessness"?

My name is well chosen
As I am "benevolent," "kind,"
Dare I say, "loving"?

So am I inspired and driven
by "fury," "righteousness,"
Dare I say, "vengeance"?

Therefore, this new mindset
This white clouds on a cerulean
Blue sky, this bright copper kettle,
Warm apple strudel disposition
Tangles my fingers and tongue
But I beat on the keys, anyhow
Hoping my monkeys can find
Not Shakespearean text, but
Shades of my own