Yes, great topic, John.
I always let what I’ve written sit for a few days or weeks or months, and then revisit it. At least half gets deleted, in toto, and probably more should. I edit and tweak what remains. When something really works (and I’m conscious of it), I have a sense of surprise and marvel. And pleasure, of course. There’s something in the composition of real poetry that eludes or exceeds rational analysis, I think: we call it the Muse, or inspiration, because we can’t explain it. I suspect the same thing occurs in the other arts.
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