[Douglas]
>> if the words dont
>> pop into your head it is cheating to use your technical skill to make the
>> poem. Poems are given.
[Dominic]
> That may be a little absolute. Although I often hear phrases before I
> think them, the hearing usually happens in the context of a
> thought-process, a deliberate search for sound and sense. One could
> argue that if anything is "cheating" it's relying on naive
> spontaneity, the pressure of unmediated inner speech, to write your
> poems for you.
I've found that if I use technical skill to make or continue a poem it can
sometimes come alive in my hands and turn out to be one of my better ones.
Of course, this doesn't always happen -- it's necessary to use one's
judgement and be prepared to ditch the weaklings, after giving them time and
a bit of help to fight for survival.
joanna
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