Lionel Kearns : Writing Philosophy

Amazed by the muse, amused by the maze, the old poem sits there on the page, or the screen. It's all alone. No music to prop it up. No poet standing there with the poem in her, or his, mouth, giving it a bit of wind and juice. Why should anyone bother with it when there are so many other interesting things in this world? Unless...unless the attention is worth the effort. There has to be something compelling there, something unique, something useful. That is the challenge. That is what we poets try to do, tricking language into patterns so memorable that they stay with you forever. Sometimes, though the occasions are rare, we are successful.

Lionel Kearns's works copyright © to the author.