I don't disagree with Don Paterson; I feel like Yeats said something similar, or at least I was told so, once: "It gives my brain something to play with while I write down what I didn't know I knew." But "maximizing our creative abilities" is pretty banal language.
Marilyn, the very thing you point out (that reversal in L1-2) was brought up when this poem was on the boards not more than a few weeks ago. It was variously criticized and defended but the upshot is that it was not changed. Is it odd? Yes, a bit. Does that matter? I'm not sure.
C
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