August 31, 2005

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MY ESSAY ABOUT THE CREATIVE PROCESS, "The Arrival" is currently the featured article at Mike Burch's Mysterious Ways: Poetry and Literature about God, infinity, eternity, things mysterious.

Posted by Vanderleun at August 31, 2005 5:24 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Interesting article. Funny thing, in those lives where I tried my hand with poetry I really had no trouble with it. Things just clicked and I got into the rhythmn, the music of it.

There is music in language and those who know this and use it write better than those who don't. Poetry is the music of language made paramount. But even when writing simple prose there is cadence and tone, melody and harmony within.

In short, a well written passage sings. Sometimes it is a solo, sometimes a chorus. There are times when it sings of lofty things, other times the song is of the low and mundane.

But at all times the music of language is a celebration. A celebration of life, of the things of life. Pity the man who's words are leaden and dull, for he will never enjoy the music inherent in language.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg at August 31, 2005 5:55 PM

I agree classical forms are very hard. I tried my hand at them. Most of my poetry was written as a young man. But there was one arrival. The poem I wrote for my son a couple of years after his death. It grabbed me and did not let go until it was done. When I looked at it later more objectively it was the best poem I had ever written. It not only had the best imagery, but subtleties of structure that I did not put in deliberately.

Alan is right; language does have its own music. Good prose is as enjoyable as good poetry and in many of the same ways.

"The Missing" was moving. The more I read it, the more it wrenches and lets me see what, at the time, I was still too much in my own grief to see.
It used far less than a thousand words to paint many pictures.

Posted by: Bill at August 31, 2005 8:28 PM