My push for a spiritual life has been good to me, but one thing it has not been able to do is to eliminate the superstition that sometimes haunts me.

Writers need spirits and muses to perk them up and keep them strong; they work alone and are often crazy.

Our lives are uncertain, and they never seem able to muster that security that all Americans are taught repeatedly that they must have.

We don’t depend on money for salvation (most of us); we are on our own. That is both thrilling and terrifying. So we tend to take muse seriously. The creative person who tries everything is trying nothing.

When I get discouraged or worn out, I look at a muse and smile. I hear a voice saying, “keep going.”

They do pick me up. I have four primary muses at the time.

A stuffed creature of uncertain identity was my first muse, a Froggy The Magic Gremlin statue I got at an antique store is the second, an iron crow that sits in my study window, and as of yesterday is the third, and a “Gothic Rave” with a light bulb hanging out of his mouth is the way to me from China.

He will be my fourth muse and is the least expensive ever – 24 dollars.

Here are my existing muses in order of acquisition.

Froggy The Magic Gremlin

The Iron Crow. I love the spirit of the crow, its intelligence, and its independence. Mine sits in my study window and keeps watch.

The above muse is my first; it goes back to my office in New Jersey. It is a bit too cute for me, and I don’t pay much attention to it, but I love the Thomas Paine button and the Rose memorabilia that serves as a memorial to her.

Rose was the first dog I brought up here, and she saved my ass more times than I can count.

The muse has been moved to the top of my book cabinet, and I have to look up to it to see it. The Gothic Rave with lamp bulbs is coming in a week or so.

I got this chicken a year or so ago in  Vermont. It definitely makes me smile, but chickens don’t have the wait of Froggy or Crows or Ravens. I keep it here, but I’m unsure if she is a muse. Chickens are not intense symbols to me. But she is a lot of fun, and reminds me not to take life too seriously.

This beautiful, sad marble head is among my oldest and most important muses. She is also sad, and I tend to look at her when I am sad too. She is mysterious and reflective. She encourages me to be the same.