Fear of Dreaming. It's my favorite book of poetry, or at least the one that I've gone back to more times than I can count when I needed some inspiration, or needed an idea of what to write about in the first place, or needed to remind myself about why I became a writer in the first place.
I don't mean going out to find new poetry. I mean reading poetry you know and love. It is uniquely great to spark something and keep you writing, specifically because you have read it so many times before.
For exmaple, one of my go to poems in Fear of Dreaming is "Little Ode on St. Anne's Day." I absolutely love this poem.
--
You’re growing up
and rain sort of remains
on the branches of a tree
that will someday rule the earth.
and that’s good
that there’s rain
it clears the month
of your sorry rainbow expressions
and clears the streets
of the silent armies . . .
so we can dance
--
It gets me going every time. Clearing your face of the sorry rainbow expressions and clearing the streets of the silent armies. So we can dance! I love it!
For you it might be Rilke. It might be Bukowski. Or Mary Oliver. Whatever. Something you can pull out and read for a few minutes, remind yourself how it's done, and have it be short enough that it inspires you without exhausting your brain.
The point is that returning to something tried and true is going to work. It's not going to take a ton of time to go and find, and you don't have to worry that the poem will be no good. And if you do, at some point, find that you don't like a poem you used to love anymore, then you can take that as a sign that you are growing and your tastes are evolving- which should remind you that you are becoming a more discerning writer. A spark in and of itself.
What poetry have you read when you need a spark?
Image source: V.H. Hammer via flickr
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