I felt like exploring a word palette today. I wanted to break habits of thought and sentence structure. So I began by listing word combinations inspired by my backyard surroundings. After creating the list, I could imagine the possibility of a poem.

What was missing was some central organizing perspective or voice. As I wrote, I began to think of Andrew Wyeth’s painting, Christina’s World. As per usual, I made some basic mistakes in the heat of writing, but I pushed forward without looking back (a strength to writing on a typewriter). First vision; then revision.

I still am not content with the writing. It needs some narrative simplicity around which to organize the abstract use of natural images. The point is that I do not know what the poem is supposed to do yet, making it a sequence of cluttered clauses. First vision; then revision; then rebuild vision. By using a typewriter, handwritten notes, and post-writing reflection (what I am doing in this post), I begin to imagine a synthesized focus for the poem. What I realize is that I need to set this aside for marination. If the poem has a shape to it, it will reveal itself later. No need to rush (as we often do with purely digital writing).