by Sam Williamson

Despite all our years together, the care and devotion I have for her, Inspiration continues to be a capricious and unreliable life partner.

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Cold. Treacherous. Reluctant and rebellious. Divine. Comes whenever she pleases, whether it’s noon in the office—in the midst of a presentation, with my boss staring at me with those dreadful eyes—or midnight at home when the world has already fallen asleep. She murmurs outlandish ideas in my ear to later go without giving major explanations, leaving me breathless, utterly baffled. On a pedestal I put her, as the muse she is, and just like that, she goes off with others when I need her the most, always playing with my jealousy and short temper. Every time I call her, she hangs up and comes near me exclusively once the deadline has passed, for she knows, despite the circumstances, that she’s nothing without me. Music is nothing without a good conductor. Marble only becomes art with the right sculptor. 

Despite all our years together, the care and devotion I have for her, Inspiration continues to be a capricious and unreliable life partner. Recently, I have decided to take the reins of this twisted kinship. When she fails me, I sit at my desk and create without her, drag ink across the paper, characters in the computer; hours pass of incoherent sentences, plot holes, misinterpretations and cheap metaphors until finally, through my earned sweat and weariness, she comes to my door, guiding my worn out fingers into finding the right words, the necessary ideas. She grabs the tangle I have for a brain, takes gently a fine, black thread and sews sentences, translating my muddled thoughts into timeless wisdom and clarity. Our partnership, once founded in whims and unrealistic demands, has transformed into a mutual understanding, a common desire to form something together, knowing the difficulties that come with wanting to play almighty, for both of us. In the end, art is not reduced to the lucidity of the muse, but the perseverance of the maker.

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© Sam Williamson

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Sam Williamson (she/her) is an aspiring writer and a medical student at UDD. Her stories have been finalists in writing contests such as the UANDES Story Contest, and she has been commended in Wilbur and Niso’s Writers of the Future. Her story, “Light” (with a capital “L”), won third place in the Miroptics Contest. She lives in Santiago, Chile.

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