writing poetry is so flipping hard

[rayheinrich]

...
does learning the craft of poetry calm the inner beast or stir it up?
...

oops, posted wrong again. anyway...

good stir, bad stir, good stir, bad stir, etc. (calm may or may not come later).

1 I overhear someone talking on the radio and get this 'great' idea.
2 I try to write to it. It turns to mush. I throw it into my 'bone pile' folder.
3 I am not feeling inspired, but Iwant to write something. I look in the bone pile
    and 2 has somehow transformed itself into 'interesting'. I try to edit it.
4 2's mush turns into 4's morass.
5 Back it goes, into the bone pile.
6 I overhear someone talking at a restaurant and I go through steps 2. through 5. Again.

7 But every once in a while it works and I feel I've made something beautiful
    (even if only to myself) and I am THRILLED.
8 While thrilled I see that 1 through 5 are but parts of a wonderful journey.

9 The thrill subsides and 1 through 5 are back to being tools of the devil.

10. But still...