[Ned Balbo]

Hi, Fr. Rob,

We don't know each other, but I ran across this thread & thought you might enjoy seeing these suggestions from the late Jon Anderson. I know he struggled for a long period with poetic silence before resuming after many years.

Maybe among the many suggestions here are some you might find helpful?

http://drunken-splice.deviantart.com...rson-214199939

[Charlotte Innes]

Wow, Ned, those notes by Jon Anderson are very good. I'm saving them!

Hi Bob,

I don't know you either, but I hear you. I've had some long frustrating periods when everything I wrote seemed like crap, but, as some have suggested, it's best to jot something down, even a few notes--which can actually pan out later. In fact, much that has been said here has been so true for me too: the sudden revelations, walking, even being laid off! I was laid off three years ago and have been struggling financially ever since, but aside from periods where I have felt too anxious to do anything, I have actually had more time to write, to think, to hang about. Just doing nothing can produce a lot of good work, I've found. Harsh life events can be paralyzing, as Cathy says, but down the line, they can nudge you into a more contemplative mode, into better writing. And doing "other things," as Rick said, is so important--better poetry will come from it.

I also think trying new forms can help. I had been feeling really stale until someone recently told me to try "sprung rhythm," so I read some Hopkins, and lo and behold, a good poem came out of it. Another time, feeling blah, I challenged myself to write a rondeau. The same thing happened. (I am mostly an accentual poet.)

But it's a mysterious thing, this poetry writing. I often think that so-called "dry" periods are really a sign of the brain shifting gears, mulling things over, getting ready for the next go-round...

Lots of luck!
Charlotte

[W.F. Lantry]

Robert,

I personally prefer "Whatever Lola wants," but to get out of a dry spell, perhaps this song is most helpful. "There's nothing to it but to do it," etc...

There's another good baseball movie for this. Didya ever see Bull Durham? I can't find the clip, but there's a point when the catcher says to the pitcher: "Don't think, just throw."

When I'm in a dry spell, that one always works for me...

Best,

Bill

[Robert Pecotte]

John, what am I supposed to do when I have been writing nonsense almost exclusively? :-)

Bill T.,

Thanks for the sympathy and the book.

Ned,

Thank you very much for those helpful hints from John Anderson, they are very good.

Charlotte,

I have started making notes, and have written a Tanka. I like the idea of enter into the realm of the new with different forms.

Bill L.,

Thanks for the song on having Heart. I agree. Yeah, I liked Bull Durahm, just throw...I quit throwing because I thought I lost the strike zone. Time to wind up and let 'er rip.

[David Rosenthal]

Fr. Rob,

I saw another thread of yours before I saw this one, and posted to it. There, I felt oddly compelled to recommend a book to you -- "Striving Towards Being," a collections of letters between Merton and Milosz. Now I find this thread and I am struck by the conincidence of it.

When I first came to the Sphere many years ago, one of my first posts was seeking advice on getting out of a slump. I received a series of snarky, silly, snippy replies (which I came to feel were actually ironically ernest, just, and helpful). You contributed to that thread with a nosequitur announcement that you wanted "more pancakes." I think it was in all caps.

About a week later, I found myself with my family and some friends a summer camp run by LaSallean Christian Brothers, at which my friend, and Episcopal Priest, lent me her prized copy of the aforementioned book of correspondence between Milosz, whose anthology "A Book of Luminous Things" I had just read, and Merton who I learned was a Trappist monk. It all came together when at the camp, which is known for its excellent meals, served masterfully prepared pancakes one morning for breakfast. Coincidence abounded.

Anyway, it turns out that an exercise that jarred me out of the slump was to make my own versions of T'ang Dynasty lushi poems based on multiple translations by others. I was moved to to do this through my introduction to T'ang poems through the Milosz anthology. I considered the products of the project a form of plagiarism, and therefore unpublishable, which freed me of all considerations save person and aesthetic ones. That made the exercise very useful.

Or, you might try more pancakes.

David R.