By Holly Georgious

 

Opportunityisnowhere

 

Louise had a problem,

And a big one at that,

She needed inspiration, 

She needed it stat.

 

Her teacher you see,

Gave her a great task,

‘A task to write something that came straight from heart.’

Louise had to mull over what this might mean,

But soon realised all was not as it seemed.

 

The issue 

She thought with a great fear,

‘Is with no guiding rules my ideas are not clear.’

Open-ended briefs such as these,

Got Louise in a muddle.

She thought and she fought,

But still she did struggle.

 

A change of environment is what she did need,

So off she went to the land full of trees.

She sat on the trunk all covered in muck,

And pondered, 

And wondered,

With hopes of getting unstuck. 

She could hear birds,

She could hear bees, 

She could hear whistles and thistles and leaves. 

And when the moon rose she could hear even more,

With ticks, and wicks and fireflies galore.

But being able to hear is not always enough 

Hearing means nothing when your brain’s full of fluff.

 

With little work on the run

Louise’s time in the woods was surely done

So off she went to her next thinking spot.

Louise went somewhere she ends up a lot.

She stood by a lamp post, 

Engraved with a heart, 

An ‘M’ and a ‘N’ written boldly on part. 

She saw a couple walking hand in hand.

On the ground was an old rubber band. 

She saw a new car, 

And flocks of birds flying high,

She saw babies laughing,

And saw babies cry.

There were bees on flowers,

And flowers on bees. 

There were leaves holding ants,

And ants holding leaves.

There where helicopters landing, 

There were kids running by.

There was chalk on the pavement

There was chalk in the sky. 

But still she was stuck,

Stuck in her rut,

For Louise saw nothing she hadn’t before

If she saw it every day why think about it more? 

 

So off she was again,

But this time in a hurry, 

Her deadline was pushing,

Her heart in flurry,

She needed inspiration, 

And needed it fast, 

Louise had a hope,

That she’d left her best place for last. 

 

She made her way to her last thinking spot,

if there’s no inspiration here she thought,

Then that’s my lot.

 

Louise closed her eyes and put her feet in the sea, 

Feeling the waves and the crashing beneath,

Then she lay down and ran her fingers through the sand,

With the particles sticking to the palms of her hands,

With the salt tingling on the tip of her lips.

 

Louise was still stuck, 

No ideas would stick, 

Louise had enough,

She was out of tricks.

 

Yes, she smelled seaweed,

 Salt and vinegar,

 fries.

Yes, she felt water,

 The breeze, 

And the eyes.

Yes, she saw people smiling and free

Yes, she heard birds humming in the tree,

But this was not new Louise saw this every day, 

So what value was there in they?

 

Louise sat and thought,

And then thought some more,

She thought and she fraught, 

Til’ her head went all sore.

 

I’ve done this all wrong!’

She exclaimed with a gasp, 

Opportunities are around, 

Inspiration is a farce!

 

And then Louise thought of something she hadn’t before.

Maybe opportunity 

She thought isn’t even that rare 

What if opportunity she thought

Was in fact everywhere.