poetry survival guide - #1

William Blake

– lines from Jerusalem

I give you the end of a golden string,
       Only wind it into a ball,
It will lead you in at Heaven’s Gate
      Built in Jerusalem’s wall.


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Jean Valentine

Poetry

You, poem
the string I followed blind
to leaf by thick green leaf
to your stem
milky
poem without words
world electric with you

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Blake and Valentine are both focused to receive the poem. Their pens are empty. The poetry finds them. The difficulty in this method is in the letting go of power, in giving up control.

Control gets in the way of the poetry. I'm more successful with my writing when I follow the poem into its own wilderness. My best work, if there is such a thing, develops that way. I dont' think my way there. Poetry isn't about thinking. No. It's all about discovery. Craft ... comes later. That's the editing ... the part I like least about writing, though I do realize its necessity.