I have never written anything notable in my life but I still found
inspiration.
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 8:39 PM
Subject: Re: poem
> 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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