I'd like to discuss 'first thought, best thought'. Some little guru of
Ginsberg's said, I believe. And I believe I misread it for years as the
first thought that came to my mind - but I think the original intention, the
original meaning, was, the initial thought or the base thought. We get in
our own way so often with 'false' masks and pretences that our first
top-of-mind thought is often polluted by ego, by fear or both. We need to
get to first basic-mind thought. Good ol 'Swing-away with Keroooway' said it
nicely in his essay on Spontaneous Bop Prosody (not at hand at present, or
I'd quote from it).
Whaddya think, Ken? Does that make better sense? It's more about true focus
than first glib thought. A bit of meditation (active or passive) or some
other centering act is a good overture. I find walking in nature does it for
me.
Often my version of revision is a completely new start - another run-up at
it, as I think of it (like a fast bowler in cricket). But I do preach, All
good writing is rewriting.
Just shooting the breeze as Australia does well in the cricket against
England. Yippee!
Andrew
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