From a deep peaceful sleep, I awoke surprised to find,
I had my muse on my mind.
I’m speaking of She who calls herself Shirley…. Alas.
Let’s be quite clear about this from the start: My Muse is a pain in the Ass.
Speaking candidly – with no punches pulled, without embellishment,
as any artist Might.
I want to understand her, to get her Right.
Why would my muse declare herself to be average? Not only average but Average-ish.
No one aspires to average; why waste a Wish?
If you don’t know it – then know it now – every artist, in accordance
with Greek Mythology, is entitled to one muse – and only one – per
lifetime to inspire the artist. Ergo, no artist would accept a muse who
is – or perceives herself as – run-of-the-mill-ish;
you know, Average-ish.
I hope I’m being clear about This.
My Muse is a pain in the Ass.
One ought not underestimate the influence of a good muse. Someone
once said, “Only Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread.” Not
True. Not True.
Muses always Do.
When a critic opines negatively upon an artist’s work, concluding it to
be, at best, a Work-in-Progress-Disaster,
it’s the Muse to the rescue, filling air and artist’s ear with, “No, no, no.
You are a Master.”
My muse – Shirley – too often asks rhetorically about
herself, “What do I do Well;
I mean, at what, if anything, do I Excel?”
I don’t get it. Never will. My insisting, “It ain’t so,”
changes not the status quo.
Reluctantly, I give up. I Surrender,
But first, I dare you to deny that this is all about Gender.
Every man, any man, would never depreciate or diminish himself so.
This we Know.
Were my muse a Man,
He’d be all about himself, boasting, “I can do anything. Yes I can, yes I Can.”
But Women, some, not all, self-deprecate, seeing less, making less of
the sum of their Parts.
Is this not the product of centuries-old practiced or feigned
subservience, of hiding larger hearts, and greater Smarts?
The Oxford English Dictionary defines (or so it should) “Shirley-ish“, a noun, as, “1. that which never gives up on anyone; that which is integral to the creative process; is a lover of art and artists and whatever they might Create.”
But Wait.
The Dictionary includes a second meaning – a bit shocking, I admit,
and a bit Crass –
It says – I swear it does – “2. Shirley-ish denotes a muse who is a pain in the Ass.“
QED. It must be so. Who’d challenge the Oxford English Dictionary?
Not Me. Its reputation too Legendary.
But still I’d add a third meaning; Shirley-ish as a verb: “3. to be Shirley-ished is be blessed with the kind of a friend, that most mere mortals only dream about.”
Lucky Me,
Lucky her friends and family,
Lucky Jim Lee, whoever he may be.
One closing uncontrovertible truth about my Muse:
If her vision and confidence that this world stripped from her were
restored, she’d be the artist, not the muse.
Until that day arrives, a better me will remember to Be
to her – what she is to Me.