Alison says
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1728929,00.html
>
> So, what inspires you? Or is it all rubbish?
I don't think it's all rubbish (as anyone who has read my poetry
would hopefully realise).
Caleb's idea that it is something that visits you seems about right.
For me the "something" is an altered state of mind,
where my consciousness slows and focuses and comes up
with words and phrases that I can get onto paper (or screen).
I can write without it but it isn't the same. I feel like the work
hasn't a soul. I don't know whether other people can tell the difference
though!
What inspires me? How do I get to the altered state?
Often simply by writing.
By listening to certain kinds of music.
By reading poetry, or by listening to people read.
Having baths, long walks in the countryside, etc, doesn't really
help me - I just get bored.
As the article claims, you can't make an appointment with it - but
you can make an appointment to do the things that get you there.
What the article doesn't explain is that inspiration can only get
you so far. After that you need, as the saying says, perspiration,
which for me takes the form of a long and sometimes rather frustrating
editing process, to make a satisfactory poem out of the original
rough shape.
Janet
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Janet Jackson <[log in to unmask]>
Poems at Proximity:
http://www.arach.net.au/~huxtable/janet/proximity.html
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