PAD Day 9: Obsession with the Muse

Today's dual prompts from Poetic Asides and NaPoWriMo: (1) write a poem with the title "So ______", and (2) write a poem in a nine-line form. There are a number of nine-line forms to chose from - the most famous being the Spenserian stanza (ala "The Fairie Queene"). Donald Hall also sometimes writes in nine-line stanzas, more or less free verse, but with nine syllables per line. I wrote a long poem in that form called "Nine Innings" that was published in Spitball Magazine and appeared in my last chapbook, Hits and Sacrifices. Today though, I tried a new form created by poet Jan Turner called the "Trijan Refrain". It's three stanzas with a rhyme scheme is ABAB(D/C)CDDC, where D is a repeated four-syllable refrain, and the syllable count (preferably in iambic) is 8,6,8,6,8,8,4,4,8. The refrains are supposed to change from verse to verse, but I thought keeping the same refrain intensfied the message and perhaps the humor of the piece.

So Committed

My basement's flooded - I don't care,

I hope it drains away.

I haven't got a thing to wear -

today's not laundry day.

I need to write - those things can wait,

I've shut the phone and locked the gate,

I need to write,

I need to write,

It's not a matter for debate.

My basement's flooded - I don't care,

Perhaps I'll sail away.

I'm down to wearing underwear -

don't visit me today.

I need to write - it's everything,

my mission is to make words sing,

I need to write,

I need to write,

I must tap my creative spring.

The basement's flooded to the stair,

my stuff is floating out.

And now I'm naked in my chair,

with water all about.

I need to write, I need to give,

my roof is leaking like a sieve,

I need to write,

I need to write,

What kind of way is this to live?