Anecdotal evidence suggests that the (frequently thankless) labor which goes into creating poetry takes, more than anything else, time. Gestation periods might add up to years for single poems, their authors waiting for a serendipitous, elusive moment of inspiration - the compulsion to finish what they began. I once heard Simon Armitage talking on why he turned to writing novels. He said he found poetry frustrating. Prose writing offered the kind of structured working routines which poetry can't. This is a sentiment to which I am sure all poets can relate but, conversely inspiration is one of the many miracles of poetry, and of the poetic act itself. When it occurs, and occurs at right time, a poem may fall out fully formed, asking for no major revision, its images and cadence set just so. These are the poems which wanted to be written, and they are frequently poems of quality.
I personally have a poem waiting to be completed dating back some four years, but I am confident that it will never be finished. The images are incoherent, the impulse to write borne not of genuine, serendipitous inspiration, but out of a desire to chip away at half-formed ideas that had no root in any personal experience, and to do so in a hurry. Ultimately, my impatience has killed the poem, but I don't mourn for its loss. A poem without patience is a poem without soul. Although having said that, I can safely say that the majority of my most satisfying work has emerged swiftly and unforced like ripe fruit being peeled of its skin. It is surely not coincidence that those poems are frequently centered on events from years gone by. The skill then, it seems, is in allowing the fruit to ripen.
So while inspiration is vital to the poet, so is patience. The impulse to speak with passion is tempered by the desire to do so intelligently. Not all poets manage to achieve this, but those that do are the poets I want to read and that I want to be read. That, in essence, is why Suspension Magazine exists. Our cultural world is a dark place its bright poets but the internet is everywhere, its free and its calling out to be used to connect writers who believe in the quality of their own work. For most of my adult life I have been looking for a way to help writers to find an audience of their peers. I sincerely hope that this magazine is it and I would encourage anyone from anywhere in the West to submit their writing if they feel it deserves, needs, simply has to be read.
In his poem 'So You Want To Be A Writer', Charles Bukowski offers sage advice for the aspiring poet;
'when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in
you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.'
They are (as is so often the case with Bukowski) wise words which ought to give all of us pause. But never underestimate the power of patience.
Thank you for visiting us and welcome to Suspension Magazine.
I personally have a poem waiting to be completed dating back some four years, but I am confident that it will never be finished. The images are incoherent, the impulse to write borne not of genuine, serendipitous inspiration, but out of a desire to chip away at half-formed ideas that had no root in any personal experience, and to do so in a hurry. Ultimately, my impatience has killed the poem, but I don't mourn for its loss. A poem without patience is a poem without soul. Although having said that, I can safely say that the majority of my most satisfying work has emerged swiftly and unforced like ripe fruit being peeled of its skin. It is surely not coincidence that those poems are frequently centered on events from years gone by. The skill then, it seems, is in allowing the fruit to ripen.
So while inspiration is vital to the poet, so is patience. The impulse to speak with passion is tempered by the desire to do so intelligently. Not all poets manage to achieve this, but those that do are the poets I want to read and that I want to be read. That, in essence, is why Suspension Magazine exists. Our cultural world is a dark place its bright poets but the internet is everywhere, its free and its calling out to be used to connect writers who believe in the quality of their own work. For most of my adult life I have been looking for a way to help writers to find an audience of their peers. I sincerely hope that this magazine is it and I would encourage anyone from anywhere in the West to submit their writing if they feel it deserves, needs, simply has to be read.
In his poem 'So You Want To Be A Writer', Charles Bukowski offers sage advice for the aspiring poet;
'when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in
you.
there is no other way.
and there never was.'
They are (as is so often the case with Bukowski) wise words which ought to give all of us pause. But never underestimate the power of patience.
Thank you for visiting us and welcome to Suspension Magazine.
