08-28-2011, 01:46 AM
"A poem Is never finished, only abandoned."
- Paul Valéry, 1871-1945
My sister emailed this to me a few weeks ago, asking me if I thought it was true. It just happened that it was days before I joined this forum and this was my response to her:
"I would say in most cases, NO. I finish them and walk away with the mentality that they are complete. I have very rarely, if ever, gone back and rewritten or "tweaked" any of mine. On the other hand, , I do have maybe two or three that I have abandoned but couldn't bear to trash... Only one have I ever gone back to look at only to be stumped by.... I think it was a want of words and not the flow of words that left it in the mix. I suppose that it depends on the poet though."
That was on August 14. Now, on August 27th.... I am tasting foot billy and asking that it not be my last words.... I no longer believe this as a final word. I know that there will be poetry that I write that I won't touch once it's done that first pen down/sign off moment and there will be poetry that I will not have to submit to you all for serious critique because I will finally feel edjumacated enough to just post for pleasure reading (and you can call those produce posts cause you can rid yourselves of the rotting produce at the bottom of your refrigerated bins by throwing them my way!) I have learned to embrace critique with a smile and see what I've been missing all these years!
What do you all think????
- Paul Valéry, 1871-1945
My sister emailed this to me a few weeks ago, asking me if I thought it was true. It just happened that it was days before I joined this forum and this was my response to her:
"I would say in most cases, NO. I finish them and walk away with the mentality that they are complete. I have very rarely, if ever, gone back and rewritten or "tweaked" any of mine. On the other hand, , I do have maybe two or three that I have abandoned but couldn't bear to trash... Only one have I ever gone back to look at only to be stumped by.... I think it was a want of words and not the flow of words that left it in the mix. I suppose that it depends on the poet though."
That was on August 14. Now, on August 27th.... I am tasting foot billy and asking that it not be my last words.... I no longer believe this as a final word. I know that there will be poetry that I write that I won't touch once it's done that first pen down/sign off moment and there will be poetry that I will not have to submit to you all for serious critique because I will finally feel edjumacated enough to just post for pleasure reading (and you can call those produce posts cause you can rid yourselves of the rotting produce at the bottom of your refrigerated bins by throwing them my way!) I have learned to embrace critique with a smile and see what I've been missing all these years!
What do you all think????
Do you realise that memories are like a bag of wooden nickels... Or a field full of men on wooden legs in a flash flood... useless ~ D.A.