Chemistry of the Grotesque

It's sheer machismo, that's what it is. Poefusion's Friday 5 words: interlude, grotesque, chemistry, neglect, shoelace. I add "care" and come up with a sestina.

In the middle of the book, an interlude
dedicated to renewing brain-chemistry
and undoing weeks of neglectful
damage to life. Writing's a grotesque
activity that sucks up all your care
leaving your emotional budget on a shoelace.

Pulling yourself up by your own shoelaces,
you struggle with the phrasing of an interlude
between action scenes. No-one cares
about the delicate interactive chemistry
among characters. They want grotesquely
exaggerated emotions. You neglect

subtleties, and feel you're neglecting
both truth and craft. An untied shoelace
becomes a detail too grotesque
to cope with. A comic interlude
swells beyond proportion. Chemistry
of caffeine and chocolate replaces care

in your life. Desperate, you no longer care
if important character details are neglected
because you're exhausted by bad chemistry
and tripping over your own shoelaces.
Hallucinations follow, each as grotesque
as some Hitchcock horror interlude.

Time for a break; a restful interlude
to take some R&R, necessary self-care
and get rid of the trailing grotesqueries
that have driven you deep into self-neglect.
A day of wearing house-slippers, no shoelaces
to tie. Let some good chemistry

start to happen, rediscover the alchemistry
of life. A woven pattern of interludes
and exertion like criss-crossing shoelaces
balanced with the greatest of creative care,
for we can't let either half be neglected.
Live with the graceful and the grotesque.

Study the chemistry of the grotesque,
don't neglect the rhythm of the interludes
and always take care to tie your shoelaces.

Maybe it's not pure machismo. Actually this does capture some of my feelings about my NaNoWriMo and December novel-writing experience...