Quote:
Originally Posted by James Brancheau
You have 12 going at the same time, Michael? My god. When I was younger, I'd get obsessed with one and put my head through a wall trying to work it out. I do think valuable advice about habits would include having a handful going on at the same time. Working on one can unstuck another. Now I just have 3, but I think it's good to bounce from one to the other.
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This is a habit I would like to develop. I usually work on one poem at a time over a period of at least a week, with the exception of lyrical spurts which usually get done in a session or two. I like to edit as go along writing (my philosophy behind this is that one cannot continue building a tower with a shoddy base). However, as evidenced by the feedback I have received here, the disadvantage of this is myopia. Its more difficult to distance yourself from poems when you nurse them like children. I'd like to be more like Horace, who I think remarked, put each of his poems aside for a year (I wouldn't do that long, though).
I have read a few of Richard Moore's (the formalist) poems which I have very much enjoyed, especially a stunning sonnet sequence of his I read recently. I also like the Australian Stephen Edgar, though I have only read one or two of his poems. Any you recommend?