Four texts so far. The routine is : work with the fragments. Then type up. Then work back into the new text i) for sound - what sound logic is threading the poem? ii) for thematic logics. Then individual fragments are worked into - often digging back into etymologies. Then to stand back and see what is pulling on the previous pieces and what is now suggested for the next text.
I'm deliberately pacing this - the rhythm of one a day seems right. Time for all sorts of unconscious work to do its business. I'm astonished at what declares itself. Things I really hadn't foreseen. Begging the question: Who's writing this?
I notice one of Robert Duncan's questions to students for the Poetry as Magic workshop was how they saw their writing oriented to the sun (i.e. looking into it, or with your back to it). Currently I feel I'm in the pitch dark with a small box of matches not knowing when my supply will run out. Exciting - but scary.
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