I think Peter Cudmore's idea of setting out on the voyage of writing is the
best way to look at things. So many people start writing late nowadays.
Douglas Clark, Bath, Somerset, England ....
http://www.dgdclynx.plus.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "SB" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 8:13 PM
Subject: Re: poem
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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