Do you write one poem at a time until it is finished?
At this stage I write one poem at a time. As I only started writing poetry in February 2013 I have tried to discipline myself to write a poem a day. Mostly I have been successful, although lately with Christmas and New Year I haven’t been able to be as consistent as I would like.
For me poetry is not just about inspiration, it is mostly the discipline sitting down with an idea or a word and having no idea of the direction or outcome of what I am trying to craft but learning to trust the process. It is also developing my voice as a poet. This is an on-going process. When I first started writing, it was the thrill of writing a poem and the fear of posting it on my blog. As I learnt to manage the fear of putting my work in the public arena, I could then build my confidence to extend the boundaries of what I am comfortable writing about. Those boundaries are constantly being challenged and pushed. I have started learning the flute. For me, there are many similarities between writing poetry and learning the flute. It is getting the confidence to play a strong, clear note on the flute and then to extend the range of that note and how it is played from forte to pianissimo…so with writing poetry. I tried to express some of this in the poem “This Note”