Should a muse amuse or be amused when you call upon them in times of inspirational crisis, even though that designation is unknown to them?

The Master Thespian (my favorite John Lovitz SNL creation) always called upon Baudelaire often hilariously played by John Lithgow (as seen at left/photo credit NBC) as his muse whenever he felt in doubt of his tremendous acting skills and needed encouragement! Both reveled in their gargantuan egos in never ending attempts at one-upsmanship shouting "Fooled You!" "Acting!" "Genius" "Thank you"! "No.Thank you!" And on and on and furthermore. 

Charles Baudelaire

Actors can have a muse and writers can have a muse. Artists have muses but they usually paint them and then sleep with with which kind of ends their objectivity as a muse.It also has a tendency to end marriages, but that's another story.

You see this all started when I asked if my lovely wife has been reading my blog. I had hoped for a somewhat indignant "Of Course!" What I got was a deafening quiet...I heard crickets chirping and lonely bullfrogs croaking outside somewhere in a forest. We live in a city. That's how quiet it was. Now, I never meant to put her on the spot (I do like living with all my parts intact), although I had a feeling it wasn't happening. Her eventual response was that I tell her about it anyway intimating she really didn't need to read it. I protested saying if my own wife didn't read my stuff it would be difficult for me to know if it was funny or even mildly humorous. Then I said this..."I value your opinion. You are my muse." She empirically replied that she is not a muse. There was a pause and we both cracked up. We were both amused at her stating she was not a muse and especially not my muse. (We were also sure that no one else would think it was particularly funny...so forget I mentioned it.)

Do I need a muse? Got me thinking. Writing 20+ blog entries of any substance per month is a rather daunting task. Anyone can just jot down a few thoughts, paste a couple of pictures and a selfie or two and call it a blog. BUT if you are serious and feel you can contribute something laugh-worthy or, at the least, chuckle-worthy (coined another one! Call me Mr. Webster my number is in the book!) during this harrowing time in which we live, I say a muse might just be what the doctor ordered!

So what is a muse? Let's flip to Webster's:

1 

: a person who causes someone else to have ideas about creating a work of art : a person who inspires an artist, writer, etc.

• The writer lost his muse when his wife left him.

2 

Muse : any one of the nine sister goddesses of song and poetry and the arts and sciences in Greek mythology

So, according to Webster's ( I thank you posthumously, sir.) if used as a noun my wife would be the perfect muse. There is even precedent as stated above!  However, in my case, I can't lose what she says I never had, which is her as my muse...thanks very much. 

Do I really need one? The definition makes me think I probably could use a muse for inspiration. Of course, with the topics I have chosen to set in prose across the Ethernet and beyond, my unnamed, unknown muse would most likely require having a loose screw or two listed on her resume. And you can be sure that resume will require spousal approval.

Of course if you were to become my muse you would be considered a Greek goddess of song, poetry, art and science (not so sure about that last one)! An opportunity like that doesn't come around very often.

I will be a muse! Writing! I Fooled you! Genius! Thank you! No! Thank you!