The Trouble with Poetry
“The trouble with poetry is that it encourages the writing of more poetry.” ~ Billy Collins
My friend Jayn was complaining about how little time she’s had to write. She, primarily a studio potter, was recently going through some old papers and saw how many half written poems and book chapter drafts she had left undone.
“I’m going to tell you something that’s going to make you feel better,” I warned.
“What?” she asked, curiously.
Since I stopped doing foster care, I’ve been unleashed, writing more than ever, sometimes for hours each day. The problem is that more writing only creates even more unfinished writing. I’m surrounded by scraps of paper scribbled with good intentions and poems with some good lines that don’t have any conclusion. The nature of writing is that the more writing you do, the more unfinished writing you have to work on.
“Oh,” she said, getting it.
“Writing is like slapping down flies. Every now and then I land one, but most of them get away.” ~ found on a scrap of paper on Colleen’s desk.
December 20th, 2006 9:39 am
Amen. 🙂 I have had more free time these past few months due to my lack of a “real job,” and I have found the same thing… more writing that goes unfinished. I have found plenty to blog about though… sometimes I think blogging messes with my productivity when it comes to other kinds of writing, though.
The title of your post reminded me of a song by one of my favorite singers, Peter Mulvey. It’s called “The Trouble With Poets,” and the first line goes “the trouble with poets is they talk too much…”
December 20th, 2006 9:45 am
When is writing “finished”? When is a painting or a play “finished”? It’s one of those biggish questions.
I envy your writing time~,:^)
December 20th, 2006 10:18 am
Rick, I need a lot of time to write because writing doesn’t come easy to me, but talking is even harder! And yet I came in with a mission to use my voice.
Jeanne, I used to feel the same way about blogging effecting my productivity for other kinds of writing, but after a year and a half at it, I see now that blogging has been a great writer’s training ground for me. Sometimes I recognize other applications for certain blog entries or have adapted certain ones to submit to other publications. For instance, I just sold “Born to Blog,” which started here and was also a WVTF radio essay, http://looseleafnotes.com/notes/2006/11/born_to_blog.html to the local paper in the small Massachusetts town where I grew up. I’m thrilled, and things like that help to validate the time I spent blogging and build my writing confidence.
My husband went back to school for his master’s degree in counseling about the same time I started blogging. We joke that I’m getting my own self-taught degree in creative writing via the blog. It’s a crash course home study and every day is a new deadline!
I’m going to google that song. It sounds interesting.
December 20th, 2006 10:26 am
Love the last quote about slapping the flies. It had me smiling.
December 20th, 2006 10:31 am
I told Martin it didn’t even matter that I had been excepted into the little gallery here because I didn’t have any time to work on any selections. Maybe after Christmas…..I miss my creative working side! It is just too hectic this time of year I suppose.
December 20th, 2006 10:58 am
Time shrinks, somehow, and stretches and plays strange games, no matter what your craft or trade!
December 20th, 2006 12:27 pm
It might be akin to the extermination of roaches. I sprayed a roach once…. it died. Then I sprayed under the refrigerator in the run down apartment we lived in and…….. an army of roaches poured forth……. I sprayed and sprayed… it seemed like the armies of orcs in the final battle for Middle earth. Both sides came to an uneasy standoff after the can of Raid was spent. Flies and roaches…. will survive forever.
December 20th, 2006 12:32 pm
I’ve battled roaches before while living in a trailor in Texas. It brought out the primal warrior in me. I love the orc analogy!
December 20th, 2006 10:55 pm
This is quite true, Colleen. I jot down kernals of writing ideas and some lines and they come much faster than the actual finished products unfortunately!
December 21st, 2006 12:37 am
I suddenly feel much better about my stacks of unfinished writing – stories that need polish, some that need a bonfire. Thanks for the reminder that writing leaves a long paper trail.
December 21st, 2006 2:56 am
Love this. And the flies that get away return to buzz in your ear in the middle of the night when you’re trying to get some sleep….
December 21st, 2006 4:13 am
How true, Colleen…it’s like writing begets writing! More is given over to ‘more’..yes?
Do you ever find that you want to gather those littl;e scraps of paper and put them all somewhere where you can organize them and write more?
I have post it notes on my desk top with notations about all sorts of “posts” I will be writing or photo’s I want to post, etc…The post it’s are piling up in a few different piles….OY! LOL!
I occassionally go through them and some are saved and some are discarded…Not the best way to do this writing stuff….And then there are many “beginnings” of things in the computer….some are long…some are a few paragraphs and some are just stillborn….!
December 21st, 2006 5:37 am
“The trouble with poetry is that it encourages the writing of more poetry.” I would think more is better, not trouble. Congratulations on the sale of ‘Born to Blog’! As always, a great post, or creative writing lesson. We look forward to you meeting your daily deadlines.
December 21st, 2006 3:33 pm
Yep, same’s true of thinking. Or worrying. Or dreaming. Or shopping. Most anything begets more of the same. except maybe baking chocolate cookies. Then you definitely end up with less than you started with.
December 21st, 2006 7:14 pm
Colleen, I so enjoy your blog — your writing and the snippets of your local life are wonderful (that sounds kind of contrived, but I hope you get the spirit of it.)
Yes, I too find that writing leads to writing. I will often blog in the morning, and then continue mentally writing all the way through my getting ready for work routine — running downstairs before I leave to quickly type in a few notes about ideas :-).
Kim
December 21st, 2006 8:13 pm
Maybe writers and bloggers need a support group!
December 22nd, 2006 9:46 pm
slapping down flies. love it.
~S