My Blue Muse Writing Life
P.J.Taylor  

September 11, 2004

Practice, Practice, Practice

I've been reading Kelli's blog lately and am loving it. I'm getting some tips on the flow of an entry from her. She just writes about whatever's up with her, but there's usually a theme. In one of her entries she spoke about not being able to write, and I can really resonate with that lately. I write, it's just not coming out as clear poems. It's not the same gleam of inspiration and wrestling the poem to the ground from there. Then the fun begins. Once the draft is on paper, I type it into my computer and shape it and tinker with images and words until I like what I read out loud. Then I put it away for a few days, tinker some more, then get it out there in the world. I do this while still working on it, but it feels good to get it out there anyway. I figure an individual poem will get rejected anywhere from 10 to 15 times before getting accepted, so it doesn't hurt to put it to work.

Anyway, so Kelli had a response to this blog entry by someone who wrote, "What gets me going again is reading good poetry. Pojacking pieces that speak to me, or just reading poems with lines that make me go - oh! - and send my imagination off on a tangent." And it's so true. I've never heard of the term "pojacking" but that's exactly it. Just to get the creative juices flowing. My question is what happens if you like the outcome of your work. A different, but absolutely "pojacked" poem? Can you call it your own? I have deep reservations about this, so I suppose that is all the answer that I need. I'll pose this question to Kelli and anyone who reads this and see if anyone sends me any emails p.j.taylor AT mybluemuse.com. I might just post and example.

Another idea I had was to show how an individual poem came to being, from first draft to final published poem, just in case anyone is curious about process. I have a couple good ideas. One being "To Jen, Who Died This Winter" and another being "Buzz of the Yellow Jacket" which was just accepted by Calyx. We'll see I'll have to dig up the first drafts. Once they're on the computer I keep all the drafts as separate words files Buzz 01.doc, etc., and each poem is kept in a different folder. This way it's very easy to go back and see the progression of a poem. Which reminds me of how you can sometimes lose your way and work a poem to literal "death." This has happened a few times, and rather than salvage it, I start from scratch on a blank page and rewrite it from memory. Miraculously, I find it's a better poem than the original. It's just so hard to let the dead rest.

I think that's enough for now. I thought I'd list five things I'm grateful for on this particular day:

1) my husband and pup

2) Kelli, my writing buddy

3) my best friend Susan

4) I'm going to Dodge Poetry Festival (Woo Hoo! Everything's all set: the reservations are made, the tix are purchased! Now that the decision has been made I'm getting very excited!!)

5) my blue muse (may she snap out of it and inspire me soon)

Peace,

PJ Posted by mybluemuse at September 11, 2004 11:16 PM
Comments

We're going to Dodge - should be fun!

Just wanted to be the first one to comment on your journal and welcome you to a real blogging tool - bye bye pitas.

Posted by: Martin at September 14, 2004 9:44 AM
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