[Critique Group 2] Emailing: Thoughts on the Poetic Process-an essay^For our 9-26-19 critique session

[James]

Thoughts On The Poetic Process: an essay
C By Brad Corallo
Word count 825

Linda Gray Sexton wrote: "writing is magic. Because it harnesses the energy
generated by the chaos within."(1) So, what is a poet but a lightning rod of
the human condition? The desirability of being a lightning rod is
questionable. Psychological thunder storms are a needed source of one's
energy. Thus a certain amount of violent and exquisite pain must inspire and
inform the poet's work. In addition to sharing the magic of the strike of
electrically created luminescence, a lightning rod also conducts and safely
disperses energy. This process may be seen as the basis of the poet's
creative spark and with artfully channeled energy a poem may be quickened.
For some, this process can be cathartic and even therapeutic. Of course,
there is a price to pay for catharsis and therapy. Endurance, intensity and
hard work are often required. 

In this writer's experience, things that are less spectacular than lightning
strikes often are the events that nudge the evolution of one or more word
sequences toward the development and birth of a poem. Almost anything: a
song, a cat rolling over in a patch of sunlight, an unpleasant bus trip,
observing people interacting, an unusual odor and an ice cream cone to
mention a few can cause the creation of a seemingly significant phrase or
word sequence. When this happens the poet must get it written down in some
fashion as soon as possible. After this occurs, a complex creative process
may be activated. Sometimes these phrases and word sequences can ignite a
frenzy of ideas which are written down rapidly and even feverishly. At this
stage, the poet is not concerned with perfecting language. Rather it is more
important to capture connected ideas or images before they get away. 

Other times, thoughts and images may slowly constellate around the initial
seed i.e. the seemingly significant phrase or word sequence. In this case,
shifting around the various components may facilitate poem development. 

For some, once the process is activated, God help anyone or anything that
interrupts or interferes with it. Other poets can start and stop the
process; finding that periods of time away from the developing organism can
enhance its flourishing and growth. 
*
Approximately five years ago, when I had a first poem published, I was
deeply invested in trying to figure out where poems came from. I wrote the
below then and have resurrected it as I believe it is seminal to the current
effort. I am not sure if there need to be eight steps in the process. Some
may be combined. But I do think that the below does accurately put into
words a process that still can amaze me after all the poems and all the
years. Truly, it still does and I think it always will.

1. Idea/inspiration: this occurs when I feel the "itch" from which a poem
can come. It might start from something I hear, observe or experience or it
can come like a flash from somewhere unknown. 
2. Incubation: this takes place in the mind. It is a process in which the
idea/inspiration gathers crucial bits which will be important parts of its
expression. 
3. Initial burst: frenzied compulsive writing about the incubated
idea/inspiration.
4. Irrigation: this involves feeding the main emerging themes of the
proto-poem.
5. Crystallization: this is the forming of the basic matrix of the poem.
6. paring: this is eliminating whole lines, repositioning words and lines
and generally cutting out the deadwood.
7. Polishing: this is taking the pared piece and doing fine tuned word
substitution, smoothing phrasing, refining lines and pauses and determining
desired punctuation. 
8. completion: this is that moment when you know that for better or worse
the poem is indisputably DONE!!! Some writers have told me that "8" can be
indefinite for them. For me "8" is when the "itch" in "1" is fully and
comfortably scratched and the cat purrs.

NOTES:
(1) Linda Gray Sexton
Searching for Mercy Street: my journey back to my mother Anne Sexton,
 Little Brown and Company
1994 (audio version) section "Companionship." 

2. The portion above the star was written August 27, 2019 totally
independent of the section below the star and was influenced by my emersion
in Anne Sexton's life and work. 

3. The section below the star was written September 20, 2014 and was
inspired by an interview with Margo Lagattuta from Books and Beyond in which
she discussed her piece "The Seven Elephants of Creativity." As stated
above, I was about to be published for the first time around 9-20-14 and was
obsessed with the question of where poems came from. I wrote the second
section below the star accept for the bridging paragraph at that time.
Originally there was no thought of fitting it into the current piece.
However I somehow remembered it,reread it and felt it was well thought out
and worthy of inclusion. 

jamesstarfire at gmail.com
  
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