A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-Forty-Four

Many times, of late, I have discussed the changes in my work, and specifically talked about certain kinds of poems that I feel I am not writing as frequently of late.  While it is certainly true that I would love to produce more of the narrative surrealist poems, the animal fables and such, I also need to acknowledge that I have been finding myself writing certain other types of poems far more often.

One type of poem that I have found myself getting more adept at is a particular sort of angry screed.  The poems I am thinking of are often a sort of direct address, offering a kind of instruction to the reader, but with a certain acerbic tone, mixed with a kind of cutting sharpness.  These poems are often very political, though they often do not include any direct details about.  For example, one poem is about being polite, but in a way that is ironic, with the idea that you must be polite even when being attacked, even when injustice is being perpetrated. 

Now. I don't really know how to describe these poems, generally, but I know that it is a kind of work that has, of late, started appearing more regularly in my writing, and I am very excited about how it is developing.  I still feel, honestly, a bit off kilter about some of these poems, as they are not what I am used to writing.  A few that I have written, which have received very positive feedback from friends and colleagues who read my work regularly, were things that I did not see the value of initially.  I had thought of it as just my pumping out more work, but in that process, I had written something that reverberated. 

As I have continued working, and this particular mode of writing has come back, I have started to recognize it. but I still don't know how to really describe the actual qualities that it represents, or even how to explain the kind of work I am doing within those poems.  At the moment, it is something new that has emerged and which I am exploring from an intuitive perspective.  Until today, I am not even sure that I was consciously aware of the thread connecting some of these poems at all.  I am certain that my recognition of that is a sign that I am getting to a point where I will have a better sense of how these poems are operating.


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