Thursday, March 08, 2007

Poems in Vitro - Vol. 2, No. 5

Disclaimer: Taking William Stafford's advice via - Robert Peake's response to my post "On Intent, Occasion & Poetic Handicaps " :

"Writing blocks? I don't believe in them ... I've never experienced anything like that. I believe the so-called "writing block" is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance. I can imagine a person beginning to feel that he's not able to write up to the standard he imagines the world has set for him. But to me that's surrealistic. The only standard I can rationally have is the standard I'm meeting right now. Of course I can write. Anybody can write. People might think that their product is not worthy of the person they assume they are. But it is ... you should be more willing to forgive yourself. It really doesn't make any difference if you're good or bad today. The assessment of the product is something that happens after you've done it. You should simply go ahead and do it. And do it, I might add, without being critical."

I sat down in front of my keyboard; lowered my standards and wrote this:

Musical Interlude


If you'll hum a few bars maybe....

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This is an idea for a poem comprised of varied sections with song titles that are associated by the speaker with anecdotal recollections. More of this crap to come....

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Write on!

Nick said...

And so it goes...

Collin Kelley said...

Not your best work, but some good images here. Loved the line about Darlene's freckles looking like constellations. Glad you're writing. I've also been tinkering with some new work that may or may not see the light of day, but I've been enjoying just sitting down and playing with words. Good or bad.

Nick said...

Glad you saw this, Collin, before I removed it from the light of day.

Unknown said...

I've never had writers block, at least not for more than a few days. I've had bouts where I didn't feel inspired, but one cannot always count on that anyway.

Nick said...

I've been struggling for a while now and think that maybe I have turned the corner. We'll have have to wait and see! More to come .... hopefully.