Drowning in Drafts - a Poem I Made Up in My Car

Drowning in Drafts

I narrated this poem onto VoiceMemo on my phone, in my car, on February 18th, 2016. Because I am so badly drowning in drafts, I'm only getting to typing it up now, almost three weeks later.

Also, I have not shared a poem publicly since high school. Be gentle.

Thank you stock photography for this perfect picture.

For many months
I worked on a single narrative
A single project
I could forgive myself
And excuse myself
For not blogging
Regularly

But I came up with ideas
Lots of ideas
Which I added to lists
Upon lists
Which I have organized
And prioritized
And alphabetized
And check listed
And expanded
And researched
And narrated
And sketched
And texted

Now, they wash over me
Started as drafts
Unfinished posts
Unshared ideas
They sit in my Any.do list
On the notes on my phone
Rambling ideas
Rolling on top of each other
Started as drafts
In the draft folder on my blog
On neon sheets of paper on my coffee table
And Post-Its in my pockets

Every time I don't write a post
Another idea forms
And I sink
Further
Beneath the drafts
And I'm drowning
Under waves
Of ideas

Every time I swim through the drafts
Trying to pull my head above
A new idea forms
I cannot get to the top
Because I cannot get to the top
I give up
And I stop swimming
I stop writing
I hide beneath the waves
Of my ideas
Half formed
In drafts

Even this poem
Coming from my brain
To my mouth
To the VoiceMemo
Will become
Another wave
Cresting
Another wave in the digital ocean
Of drafts
Of ideas

(Ha! Past Shauna was wrong - I took a stroke, I kicked and I shared this one draft today!)