Is there a format for excellence? Excellent poems will draw us all forward – everything else draws us back.
Is there a format for excellence?
Interesting question, Peter. I think excellence is a goal toward which many of us strive. The idea itself, means different things to different writers. I believe excellence can span the breadth of styles to make anyone's poetry better.
I'll come back to this question later. It is an intriguing topic for me.
Les
Having never achieved it personally, I can only say that when I read it I think "Damn! I wish I could do that!"
It makes me wonder if any of the "Greats" ever finished something and thought "Damn! That's GOOD stuff!"
Jack
"Damn! That's GOOD stuff!"
Jack, I don't know that anyone says that, but I'm sure that you and many other poets have had an experience where you went back and read something you'd written and marvelled that "you" were the author of those words/thoughts. I think that this is probably a fairly common experience for people who have been writing for some time.
Les
Post Edited (10-14-04 02:53)
"Damn! That's double stuff!"
Post Edited (10-14-04 02:49)
"Excellents draws us forward"
IF we're prime to be drawn, it does. It can also be very intimidating. The first time I read -- or rather, TRIED to read "The Alexandria Quartet" I got stalled around page 12 because it was maddenly, impossibly good, and made me feel unable to write. Luckily, I tried again when I wasn't so downcast and found it very readable and not at all intimidating.
Not that I ever DID write a novel, mind you. But at least I didn't feel that I couldn't.
"If the music makes you want to dance, feel free. Don't dance. Just feel free."--Howard Jay Patterson, aka Ivan Karamazov
as in the "Flying" Karamazov brothers?
The same!
Marian,
I felt the same way with Marcel Proust. How could my writing ever matter, if this guy had already perfected the process.
"If the music makes you want to dance, feel free. Don't dance. Just feel free."--Howard Jay Patterson, aka Ivan Karamazov Nice quote.
Thanks.