Goodreads asked David L. Hatton:

How do you deal with writer’s block?

David L. Hatton In all honesty, I must answer with my poem:

UPON WRITER'S BLOCK

My poetry may seem to mock
that ghost perceived as writer’s block;
but till I feel the Muse’s knock—
to shake and rouse my mental stock
or make creative gates unlock—
regardless of my whining squawk,
no ships of verse sail into dock,
despite how long I watch the clock.

So, when I hit a witless rock—
some sterile, empty stumbling block
to inspiration’s aftershock—
where verses fail to interlock
or rhyming sheep fast flee my flock
of lines that echo double-talk,
I don a paint-bespattered smock
and play with brush or pastel chalk.

— David L. Hatton 4/9/2019

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