The Winter of Our Discontent

Shakespeare's Richard III begins with the lines "Now is the winter of our discontent.." John Steinbeck, as I am sure you know, took this line as title for his book, The Winter of Our Discontent. Richard was railing against a fate that permitted him to be born deformed physically, and, at least to his mind, mentally. Steinbeck carried the theme forward into modern times to write "a great American tragedy."

It is said that persons of artistic temperament are responsive to changes, be they changes of season, moon phase, location, or fluctuations in the ebb and flow of the cosmos. I do not know if this is true, although certainly the lives of various poets, writers, and artists would indicate some confirmation of the saying's veracity. As an amateur poet, possessed of a melancholy Irish genetic heritage, I am sensitive to changes, particularly of season, and, occasionally, can make use of the emotional highs and lows that change brings me by incorporating the feelings in whatever sweepings the Muse sees fit to leave.

The only problem that I have with retirement is that I am completely content, and with that contentment comes a creative black hole. For the past two weeks, perhaps generated depressing political events, I have been in a very reflective mood. Let me hasten to say that it is a time of growth and questing, a time that will, perhaps, lead to inspiration and further understanding: this is not depression and despair. This mood is my Muse in her most provocative guise, and I am sure that I will benefit from her visit.

Sometimes, in the face of popular belief and consensus, my intelligence seems to me more like belligerence, and my experience as something that has value only to me because of the shading my interpretation of that experience places upon it. A major part of my poetic quest is the struggle to encapsulate the essence of that interpretation into a simple credo in which an essential truth shines forth as an absolute, readily understandable by all who see it. That goal is still some way off, and I still have "miles to go before I sleep..."

The quest continues...