Writer’s Block (Sock) Sonnet
- Blank Page and Sock
Writer’s Block (Viewed from Page and Foot)
A blank page is not like a plain white sock.
It won’t warm cold feet in the night
and fits poorly into your shoe. You can’t tuck
your pants into its margins to fight
Lyme’s Disease–no, no, it won’t allow ease
of any kind–won’t cushion the impact
of the concrete; won’t offer you release
from a sweaty stance–so much less tact
has the blank page than the ribbed cotton sock
(though also white and sometimes subtly lined)
that it will talk at you (snarkily), mock,
allow no wiggle room, quite shush and bind
you, reciprocally capping all sound.
You resist? Then it will stare you down.
The above is a re-draft of an old poem, posted for dVerse Poets Pub Open Link night. (And, yes, to followers of this blog–I seem to have an obsession with socks.)
I went with this particular poem because I am desperately trying to rewrite and revise a fantasy novel right now. (The idea that I will finish the revision is its own form of fantasy!) In the meantime, if you are at all interested in silly novels written by Manicddaily, check out NOSE DIVE, a cheap, light, fun, escapist read.
Explore posts in the same categories: poetry, UncategorizedTags: Karin Gustafson poetry, manicddaily, painting of sock and notebook, sonnet about writer's block, white sock writer's block poems
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ManicDDaily 
January 31, 2012 at 5:00 pm
smiles…love your sense of humor karin… you take aways the heavy weight from those white pages..smiles
January 31, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Thanks so much, Claudia.
January 31, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Good fun. the Lyme disease is a nifty touch. Of course, you could take it the other way, and try writing on your sock when that dammed up inspiration bursts.
January 31, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Yes! What a great idea! But one would need to be careful not to wash it!
January 31, 2012 at 5:10 pm
You have to forgive the white pages, who are only defending their endless possibilities against our attempts to limit them and conform to a single story. Who can blame them for that? Smashing sonnet!
January 31, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Hahaha – great contrast in the two blank, white objects. Maybe next time when writer’s block attacks we should take to knitting socks!
January 31, 2012 at 5:46 pm
I have been there – many times – but never thought to compare it to a sock. Very original – nicely done, and good luck with your novel!
January 31, 2012 at 6:10 pm
Karin, nice write 🙂
January 31, 2012 at 7:30 pm
i think you handled the white page rather deftly…smiles….fun read k…and i have lymes disease…
January 31, 2012 at 7:37 pm
Oh no, do you! I’m so sorry, if that’s not a joke.
January 31, 2012 at 7:41 pm
Creative way of looking at it…though I love white socks specially now when its really cold ~
http://a-sweetlust.blogspot.com/2012/01/honour.html
January 31, 2012 at 9:20 pm
A blank page is definitely nothing like white socks. It certainly doesn’t ever provide warm feelings when one looks it. 🙂
January 31, 2012 at 10:08 pm
A wonderful little sonnet that takes us by way of the via negativa aboutbthe presence that is absence! There is humility in the sock, which perhaps mocks the blank page’s hubris. Your interplay of light irony and gentle self -awareness of your task as poet make this charming to read.
January 31, 2012 at 11:53 pm
Haha, clever and humorous sonnet… well done! Hope you win that staring contest and fill up some pages for that novel of yours!
February 1, 2012 at 9:14 am
The Lyme Disease makes me think of quicklime for catching birds, I’ve never seen it but I imagine it to be another sticky white trap like the empty page.
February 1, 2012 at 9:34 am
Ha. Of course, you kind of want your birds/words to be free=flying at some point!
February 1, 2012 at 7:14 pm
I too love socks. Your writing, I like even better. I don’t think I would have ever dreamed of thinking to compare a sock to the blank page. Not just any blank page but the annoyingly noisy blank page of writer’s block. That makes me smile.
Well done.
February 1, 2012 at 7:26 pm
I love socks too! And i like the playfulness in your poem here 🙂
February 1, 2012 at 9:33 pm
Love it Karin. Glad you squeezed in the time to revise and post it. It is totally and completely original, delightful and –always a plus–true. Good luck with the novel–writing anything longer than a page is way above my pay grade, and I admire and am awestruck by those who can and do.
February 2, 2012 at 4:33 am
Another witty, polished tour d’force from you– a surfeit of pleasures in reading your work! xxxj
February 2, 2012 at 6:13 am
I do love this, not least because it shows absolutely the right attitude towards writers’ block.
February 2, 2012 at 12:29 pm
You are so good! This could have come out of a book. This is definitely my favorite part:
“It won’t warm cold feet in the night
and fits poorly into your shoe. You can’t tuck
your pants into its margins to fight
Lyme’s Disease”
Very clever comparison. 🙂
http://rosemarymint.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/the-studio/