Hide and Seek

searching for words

Where do you look 
for poems, for stories,

where do you find the words 
you need to write,

where are they hiding, waiting 
for you to discover them?

It's like playing a game 
of hide-and-seek, isn't it?

You search inside your journal, between 
the blank pages, hoping to find them there,

or you look inside the barrel of your pen
wondering if they're concealed there,

or you examine the book you're reading
to see if they might have gotten lost in its pages,

or you look outside your office window on the chance
they might be floating like clouds in the air

and all you need to do is
reach out and grab them,

or maybe they went for a ride on the wings
of the crows cawing above the roof

and you just have to wait
for them to return,

or maybe they're like beads on a string
wrapped around your wrist

only you can't see them until
you reach for your pen and open your journal 

and begin moving your hand across the page 
like this.