Ah yes, Douglas, "the audience of one"---how very very beautiful. That gave
me one of those shivery stirrings!
Do check to see if the facts support your claim that if a person hasn't
written something notable by age 25, he is not likely to do it later. And,
further, do check to see if there're any notable exceptions to that rule.
(I know you like to research) Maybe you're wrong!
My thanks for your quick feedback, and my warmest wishes for you and Marty,
Judy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Clark" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: poem
> The Marty poems dont have the inspiration of the earlier work. I always
> realised that. The earlier poems were written for an audience of one
> (which wasnt always the same person, but serial) and who read them didnt
> matter very much so confidence didnt come into it. After the audience is
> lost in the mind I suppose confidence becomes a factor but audience is
> more important. For one person, that is, cos I have had audience of
> thousands on the Web and Internet and it hasnt given me any inspiration.
> So the answer for me is LUV and when I lose that the poetry goes and has
> gone.
>
> Another thing to tell you about poetry is that it is reckoned that if you
> havent written something notable by the age of twentyfive you are unlikely
> to do it later.
>
> And there are always exceptions, but few of them.
>
> And signing off I would say that if you have the inspiration you dont
> think much about who will read what you write.
>
>
> Douglas Clark, Bath, Somerset, England ....
> http://www.dgdclynx.plus.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "judy prince" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 7:09 PM
> Subject: Re: poem
>
>
> Douglas, hello again,
>
> If you want me to stop asking you questions, just say that you're going
> to lunch or something.
>
> In the meantime, this topic of inspiration won't let me go (until of
> course my own lunchtime). You say that some poets need to be in love in
> order to be inspired, and that you yourself were inspired by kitten
> Marty's arrival. Then you said that you think it's deeper than that
> (love, that is), and that it has to do with confidence. Of course, anyone
> who feels (s)he's in love usually feels quite confident. Hence 'twould
> seem that you're closing in on the truth, namely, that confidence's the
> rubric under which love might sit, as well as many other qualities. I
> eventually will lead you right back to LOVE, of course, as THE ONLY
> necessary condition for inspiration---though by that time you may not
> recognize it! ;-)
>
> Dictionaries offer the word "divine" in some of their definitions of
> inspiration. Do you feel that the divine has anything to do with your own
> inspiration? 'Twould seem that a poet's thorough belief in the divine
> might give her/him confidence. When one believes that (s)he is loved by a
> human, a cat, or the Source, one feels whole, worthwhile, and
> accepted---conditions necessary to confidence, surely.
>
> A thing which gets in the way of confidence, it seems to me, is a poet's
> feeling that her/his poems are making no "connection" with others, and it
> raises in the person a great fear (the opposite of love) that fills the
> void with self-questionings. That happens when 1) someone like Basil
> Bunting (sorry, Basil, if you're reading these words now; feel free to
> comment on my poems, though) throws a false premise roadblock in front of
> you. (re his criticism, think of the greatest of poets, Douglas: did
> they never "repeat" themselves?) Envy and need for the feeling of power
> can cause a commenter to kill, sometimes for years, the creative life of a
> poet. This fear also happens 2) when a poet's work meets frequently
> with NO response. And, finally, it happens 3) when a poet's work must
> climb through judgment hoops (poetry "boards", poem "contests", online
> poetry lists that "select" poems before posting any), leaving the poet
> wondering if her/his writings are "right" enough. The poet then begins to
> sound to her/himself like the proverbial desperate actor asking a
> director: "Do you want me to be taller?"
>
> Wake up now, Douglas, it's time to feed Marty, and I'm WAY hungry,
> m'sel'.
>
> Blessings,
>
> Judy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Douglas Clark" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 1:14 PM
> Subject: Re: poem
>
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "judy prince" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 5:02 PM
>> Subject: Re: poem
>>
>>
>> Hi, Douglas,
>>
>> I didn't get that---still don't. But I like the poem anyway.
>>
>> My favorites of yours are Susan #1 (Halloween) and #2 (Citadel), Merlin
>> in
>> Winter (not the least because you've put my name in it), Cernunnos, and
>> Marty (poem 2).
>>
>> You've written that poetry has left you, and it makes me wonder, can a
>> poet truly lose the Muse? I'm quite serious, and my feeling is that a
>> poet
>> cannot lose the Muse. But I am ready and willing to be instructed in the
>> truth.
>>
>> Your fan,
>>
>> Judy
>>
>> Thanks Judy. I was just explaining to Anny that when I wrote 'Verse' in
>> Edinburgh thirtyeight years ago I was rhyming i with a e o u and had to
>> struggle for rhymes but made it in the end..phew!
>>
>> Regarding poetry thanks for liking poems but the inspiration just went in
>> 1996 and has only returned a couple of times since then. Once when Marty
>> the
>> kitten came into the house. Some poets can only write when they are in
>> love
>> and that might be the explanation but it is probably deeper than
>> that..more
>> likely to do with confidence. If you dont believe you are the cat's
>> pyjamas
>> the words dont jump into the head anymore.
>>
>> All my work is on my website butr there arent many readers nowadays
>> (except
>> for the last poem I wrote, the confessional poem, which I will post next
>> Sunday at its anniversary.) seening that Google has downgraded my Cat and
>> Kitten Poems in its listings.
>>
>> But the truth in a way is that Basil Bunting told me never to repeat
>> myself
>> and if I wrote love or cat poems again I would just finish up parodying
>> myself and I havent the ability to stretch much beyond that. And it just
>> isnt there anymore. Few poets go on past sixty, unless you are Yeats.
>>
>> Cheers.
>>
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