Snakecharmer wannabe

I started writing a new poem this morning for the first time since grad school. I had been thinking about a couple of my older poems recently and when I went back to read them I thought, "Hey, these are pretty good. I can still write, can't I?"

So I tried, but it's so terrifying to pick up an art you've left sit for awhile. Writing is like taming a snake. When you're into it, things go pretty smoothly, even though you tend to remain leery of it (it is still a snake, after all). But when you've let it go for a long time and try to come back, you're pleased because you can tell the snake still remembers you, but it's also reverted back to its wilder instincts, flailing about and snapping at your outstretched arms. Reading is like putting handling gloves on, I guess.