Confessions of a Lazy Poet

I went to see Sting with my sister Kim.  Kim is a huge Sting fan, and she bought us the most amazing seats, we were virtually on the first row.  I as a rule am to cheap to buy tickets this close to the main stage, so I made it my mission to take pictures of the show for her, as a way to say thank-you for the great seat.  I took my daughters canon point and shoot, with the 10x optical zoom, and found that about 1/3 of the photos came out pretty decent.  Was hard to get the camera stable with the entire row moving in time to the music and the musicians in constant motion.   I find that I can watch Sting perform endlessly, as he engages the audience in both music and storytelling. I have a penchant for a good story.  I love when he speaks about his creative process, how he crafts the music and waits for the story.  Music before lyrics.

As a poet I find that fascinating, as with me the story, the poem is first, then the sound of the words follow. My poetry flows from a part of me that is foreign. I rely on a free write process- a rush of words-a wave of thought, a poetic belch ( if you must) and later after the words are written, I find that portion that becomes the poem. If you are familiar with my work ( I love to call it work-as it makes me sound like a real poet), the sound of the spoken poem is important to me, I have a good poetic ear-for lack of a better term.  Luckily it is inherent in my words and does not require me to over think. Over thinking is poem death for my work,  as it tends to paralyze me.  I end up with 100's of poems that simply stay draft.    I give up on the poems that do not flow easily into finished work.  Perhaps I am simply a lazy poet.    Perhaps it is because I am resistant to change, and this manifests itself  in my work.  Perhaps it is that I am never 100% satisfied with a poem.  Perhaps it is because I hardly ever submit, and I am an easy audience.   I tell myself that it is in the creation of the poem that I love, and that is why I have hundreds of draft poems and haven't felt compelled to revise or  submit ( or face rejection).    Perhaps I am simply a lazy poet.  Perhaps it is a good time to revise.