Oh, I am finding all this most distressing.
I did not really begin to write until I was in my forties, and I am
now swiftly approaching sixty.
Douglas, I write for/to *one* person -- but that person is an imagined
composite of several, serial, beloveds.
On 7/3/05, Douglas Clark <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 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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