Thursday, May 31, 2007

Poetry. Argh.

I'm entering a poetry contest tomorrow. I'm still working on revisions and am feeling, the entire time, my inadequacy as a poet. Don't get me wrong - I love poetry and I love writing poetry. But I do feel inadequate with my poetry at times, which is certainly another way of saying I am unsure about my ability as a writer in general. All writing is poetic at some level.

Here at the blog, I just kind of spew out the words with little revision. When I am forced to present my best - through hours of work - that's when I begin to get nervous. That's when my present ability is put under the microscope. Though it is, to some degree, a subjective view.

After reading over what I've written, it almost feels too personal for a contest - that it's simply a family poem and lacks universality. Ugh. It feels immature somehow (the poem itself, not the content). Anyway, I'll try to post the finished poem here tomorrow. I still want to pour over it some - though it's a relatively short thing. I'm still working on it and I hope to have a more beautiful piece tomorrow when I submit.

Say a prayer for me and my muse today, if you would.

2 comments:

Jeff Vehige said...

Here at the blog, I just kind of spew out the words with little revision. When I am forced to present my best - through hours of work - that's when I begin to get nervous.

This is why I often thing blogging is detrimental to those of us who want to be writers.

Alison Hodgson said...

Scott, press in to the beauty.

Lay off the the perfectionism.

You are a gifted writer.