The Joy of Po-sex

When under the weather of a crisis of poetic faith, one needs to begin at the beginning, and keep it simple. Like, why do I write poetry?

1. The flirt of the universe. There are times when something is revealed, when the universe lifts her proverbial skirt and wows me with a glimpse of something secret. You can’t take a picture of something like this, so I write it down.

2. The foreplay of writing. Playing with words and lines just feels so good. Sometimes it happens without that aforementioned flirt, just because I like doing it.

3. The sex of revision. Revising a poem can be multi-orgasmic.

4. The afterglow. There’s that incredible sense of peace and well-being once a poem is finished. It lasts no longer than a day, but while it does, I’m at one with something other than myself.

Everything else but the actual poem and its creation is almost pornographic to me these days.