A Writer's Notebook, Day One-Thousand-Four-Hundred-And-Nineteen

I spent some time earlier today rereading some of my older poems.  Part of this was looking back at the manuscript for a chapbook I would still like to get published, and some was just going through work in order to select some pieces for submissions and other things.  I hadn't gone back to this work in quite some time, and I found it very interesting to look at.  Some of the poems feel so different to me than the work I am doing now.  The themes and ideas remain similar, but I am writing work that feels very different in many ways.  For example, many of my older poems were far more narrative than the newer work tends to be.  I also feel like I am getting a lot more personal in my new work, and am veering towards a more direct approach.  I am certain that I am not through with those other modes of poetry.  Those older poems represent styles of poetry that I have always been fascinated with and I know that I may not be doing that kind of thing right now, but it is still a part of my poetry and will emerge again at some point.  It is just fascinating to realize how different my work has become.  It is always a surprise looking back at those older poems and recognizing the ways in which my poetry has shifted and grown over time.

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