# Are Poets Crazy?



## PiP (Oct 21, 2017)

Okay, clickbait... we are not crazy... just checking  if anyone was paying attention.

When you write poetry do you zone out into a trance-like state or can you still hold a coherent conversation? 

I ask because my husband swears that while I'm writing, despite responding with the occasional grunt to a question, I am there in body but not in mind. It's almost as if the mind moves to a different state of consciousness so while I register the conversation as 'white noise', and I obviously grunt in the right places, I do not absorb the content into the memory banks.


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## aj47 (Oct 21, 2017)

I can only hold incoherent conversations because I know more than the other person(s) involved and the only topic I can communicate about is my WIP while I'm in the zone.  

It's not that I'm not there--it's that I'm preoccupied.  So I'll count out loud or say "*axe* rhymes with *tax*" or question my unfortunate conversant about whether *tchotchke* is understood.  

Similar to my husband working on a Project ("I'll solder this one first and then I'll wire that ... where did that capacitor get to?").


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## Robbie (Oct 21, 2017)

When I write, hours pass like minutes. I am so fully engaged in writing that 6,7,8 hours go by without my notice. It feels like maybe twenty minutes and I look up and the day is gone. I like when it happens that way. I suppose it is a trance because I am aware of nothing else. When I have distractions or have to break up my writing time, I feel frustrated and stifled. I need to be completely alone. Am I the only one who needs solitude to write?


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## JustRob (Oct 21, 2017)

What's poetry got to do with it? My angel reckons that I'm like that all the time. There is only a very slim chance that poetry will result from it. I just happen to be an asynchronous thinker.


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## PiP (Oct 21, 2017)

astroannie said:


> It's not that I'm not there--it's that I'm preoccupied.  So I'll count out loud or say "*axe* rhymes with *tax*"



Counting meter is lethal!  I tap my desk as I read the poem out loud, and then mutter.


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## aj47 (Oct 21, 2017)

Oh, not with numbers ... on my fingers...DA-da-da/DA-da-da or DA-da/DA-da/DA-da etc.


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## PiP (Oct 21, 2017)

Robbie said:


> When I write, hours pass like minutes. I am so fully engaged in writing that 6,7,8 hours go by without my notice. It feels like maybe twenty minutes and I look up and the day is gone. I like when it happens that way. I suppose it is a trance because I am aware of nothing else.



Yes, hours do pass like minutes...



> When I have distractions or have to break up my writing time, I feel frustrated and stifled. I need to be completely alone. Am I the only one who needs solitude to write?



I also need solitude when I write. I either shut myself away in my office, make myself comfortable on the garden swing chair, or go to the beach. I need to be alone otherwise I can't focus.

I don't understand people who can listen to wild rock music while they are writing.


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## midnightpoet (Oct 21, 2017)

Solitude is best, but not always possible.  I do "zone out," which drives my wife crazy.  I used to be able to write with distractions, and was known to watch TV, listen to music (think soft classical) and read at the same time.  Not any more.  Are poets crazy?  Depends on your definition of crazy.  We just march to the tune of a different drummer (excuse the cliché). And each drummer taps a different tune.


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## Darren White (Oct 21, 2017)

I have three states of mind, while preparing to write poetry:

Stage one. I am extremely alert, not only to all conversations around me, but also to random sound an noise, paintings, music, dance, everything that can bring me inspiration;
Stage two is gathering the necessary means, thesaurus, encyclopedia of poetry and poetics, assorted books of assorted poets, translation material;
Stage three is being there physically, but in a trance, where I exclude everything including the need to drink and eat.

All three stages are familiar to my sister and her family, a sort of 'uh oh....', and they know they better leave me alone.


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## Darkkin (Oct 21, 2017)

My headphones go in, my music goes up and I disappear into the back of my head.  Hyperfocus mode.  And the thing about it is, I can turn it on at will.  If a wild hare idea triggers it, then there is no telling how long I can be under.  Most of the time, however, I am cognizent of the time.  (A huge part of my writing is done during my breaks at work or when they run my apheresis.  My tablet and bluetooth keyboard are in my bag at all times to it is habit and recourse to just pull them out when I have a few minutes.  If I'm working on a critique or a technical piece, then I will plop myself at my table and click on the hyperfocus.

Other times I bounce the bejesus out of my giant yoga ball to help my find the rhythm and touchpoint rhymes.  There are moments when I would swear I can feel the neurons in the back of my brain igniting, (which is a total bunch of whooy since the brain has no touch receptors...).  But there is a hum on a visceral level that can leave me breathless from an endorphine high.  While some people resort to drugs or alcohol for a distracting rush, I write.

While other folks clamly stroll along a path they don't even realize is an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, I am chasing quazars.


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## Darren White (Oct 21, 2017)

Robbie said:


> When I write, hours pass like minutes. I am so fully engaged in writing that 6,7,8 hours go by without my notice. It feels like maybe twenty minutes and I look up and the day is gone. I like when it happens that way. I suppose it is a trance because I am aware of nothing else. When I have distractions or have to break up my writing time, I feel frustrated and stifled. I need to be completely alone. Am I the only one who needs solitude to write?



If and when I am forced to be away from writing (i.e. every social situation) I feel frustrated, and get restless after a short while, because I NEED to write and NEED to be alone.... (I'm a sort of hermit).  Doesn't this sound very much like an addiction???


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## Robbie (Oct 21, 2017)

That must be nice. It’s synchrony that I need......but only when it applies to writing. Otherwise, I can chew gum and walk at the same time. :icon_cheesygrin:


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## RHPeat (Oct 21, 2017)

I zoned out years ago. Being an artist/poet is a life style, it is part of who I am. So I'm always in the zone as two states of mind, like a metaphor in action. 


a poet friend
RH Peat


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## PiP (Oct 21, 2017)

midnightpoet said:


> Solitude is best, but not always possible.  I do "zone out," which drives my wife crazy.  I used to be able to write with distractions, and was known to watch TV, listen to music (think soft classical) and read at the same time.  Not any more.



Perhaps the zoning out just drives everyone else crazy!



Darren White said:


> I have three states of mind, while preparing to write poetry:
> 
> Stage one. I am extremely alert, not only to all conversations around me, but also to random sound an noise, paintings, music, dance, everything that can bring me inspiration;
> Stage two is gathering the necessary means, thesaurus, encyclopedia of poetry and poetics, assorted books of assorted poets, translation material;
> ...


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## Cran (Oct 21, 2017)

You don't have to be crazy to be a writer, but it helps.

When writing non-fiction, I prefer background noise - I guess it replaces the old office. When writing anything else, especially poetry, I disappear into my own internal theatre, playing the scene over and over, testing scripts and voices, costumes, sets, the whole production. Internal time varies with the outside world - minutes equal hours, for instance. Day, night; means nothing when I'm in my zone.

Gotta go now - storm closing in.


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 21, 2017)

Cran said:


> You don't have to be crazy to be a writer, but it helps.



You nicked that from those notices that say 'You don't  have to be crazy to work here...'. I see what you done 

But the thread has 'poet' in the title, not 'writer', you must be crazy if you're writing poetry, it's practically a definition; 'He's writing poetry'='He's lost it'. You'd have to be crazy not  to understand that


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## RHPeat (Oct 21, 2017)

Darren White said:


> If and when I am forced to be away from writing (i.e. every social situation) I feel frustrated, and get restless after a short while, because I NEED to write and NEED to be alone.... (I'm a sort of hermit).  Doesn't this sound very much like an addiction???



Darren

It's something a lot of artist experience; it seems that art in any form takes a lot of introspective time when in the process of creation. Cran talks about it as well in his statement. And for me time can actually stand still to the point where I don't know what time it is at all, sometimes even what day it is confuses me, because I can work on something right through the night into the next day. 

It almost like I'm going to die before I finish what has been started I'm so obsessed with getting it done, finished. Then I workshop it; I then find there is even more to be done. Hah, I have laugh at myself. Hermit? Ha, it's more like a time traveler lost in inner space. The wandering space-cowboy riding wild Sky-Rockets or Roman Candles inside the brain that dissolves and passes through a timeless awareness. 

a poet friend
RH Peat


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## dannyboy (Oct 21, 2017)

When the new theme hits then I’m in poet mode 24hrs unless work/life demands something of me. The only time this isn’t so is when my wife and I are debriefing over food and excellent red wine. The theme hits and then everything sort of pours through that - usually results in a splurge of 30 to 50 poems and then nothing (maybe an occasional poem) until the next theme. It’s been hard since I took on more responsibility at work - just when I thought it would get easier since both kids have left the nest...so yes this poet is mad.


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## Grizzly (Oct 21, 2017)

I'm curious — do (m)any of you here subscribe to the belief that poets (or writers in general) are channeling from some great poetic oversoul, and thus the objective of the poet is not so much to 'write' the poem but strives instead to _get out of the way_ of the poem?


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## PiP (Oct 22, 2017)

dannyboy said:


> The theme hits and then everything sort of pours through that - usually results in a splurge of 30 to 50 poems and then nothing (maybe an occasional poem) until the next theme.



I am very much the same. It is not so much themes with me it is more a creative channel opens and the ideas flood onto the page. Some ideas can be quite random. ... and when I've not been able to express my feelings in words I've taken to writing a poem as a release.



> It’s been hard since I took on more responsibility at work - just when I thought it would get easier since both kids have left the nest...so yes this poet is mad.



Time is like cupboard space: the more you have...



> The only time this isn’t so is when my wife and I are debriefing over food and excellent red wine


.

A man after my own heart. Living in a country where a good bottle of wine is less than the price of a cup of coffee in the UK, we (friends and husband) debrief often. I won't go as far to say wine is an ideas lubricant but I have found it has helped to uncorke writer's block on the odd occasion 
----------------


Grizzly said:


> I'm curious — do (m)any of you here subscribe to the belief that poets (or writers in general) are channeling from some great poetic oversoul, and thus the objective of the poet is not so much to 'write' the poem but strives instead to _get out of the way_ of the poem?



So all poets souls are connected in some way? 

I do find writing poetry more of a driving force than writing prose. Probably because I suffer from word blindness and ideas don't flow onto the page in a logical order.


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## Darren White (Oct 22, 2017)

RHPeat said:


> Darren
> 
> It's something a lot of artist experience; it seems that art in any form takes a lot of introspective time when in the process of creation. Cran talks about it as well in his statement. And for me time can actually stand still to the point where I don't know what time it is at all, sometimes even what day it is confuses me, because I can work on something right through the night into the next day.
> 
> ...



I think that's more than an apt description. Robbie said more or less the same. I can start working in a poem, and lose all sense of time and space. Hours will pass, and if I didnt collapse into sleep, I would go on forever.
And yes, workshopping LOL. It never ends, and "time traveler lost in inner space"... I like that one!


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## RHPeat (Oct 22, 2017)

Carole

Maybe more Jungian as in his concepts of his synchronicity thoughts along with serendipity. Being human places us within many experiences in common with each other. That "ART" itself is far more about the "WE" than the "I". Now the egos are going be angry with me because I said that. 

But the haunting quality in the experience itself might be more connected to* DEJA VU*.... as a common intuitive experience that has happened to many of us. The expression is derived from the French, *meaning*  "already seen." When it occurs, it seems to spark our memory of a place  we have already been, a person we have already seen, or an act we have  already done.

Just exactly what are we anyway — conscious star dust from billion supernovas? Do we need proof to feel it, know it, understand it? It seems when we realize the poem it is telling us where to go as much as we are telling it what to do. That the collective, creative process is actually a dialogue between artist and the art form. That the media chosen is both the means and the out come that connects with everyone, that it might be impassive in the sense that the art experience means you've been had, just by reading it or viewing it. 

That brings me back to Creeley concern with poetry; That form is content and content form. That the writing explodes out of us at times in remarkable ways. The dynamics of any art form always includes the other whether we are aware of it or not. So it is always an extension of greater awareness for both artist, creator or viewer, reader, listener, and toucher. What is it that is sentient: able to perceive or feel things? 

According to Carl's synchronicity: It's a _significant coincidence_ of physical and psychological phenomena that are                  acausal connected. That behind all phenomena are _constellations _which are a process that engages equally  objective manifestations, in the physical world, and subjective ones, in  the psychological universe. I think that suggests it might mean that the creation of art forms bridges the gaps between our physical world and our psychological universe. That the other is allowed to merge with us through the experience of the arts in general when it is at its best. So it makes sense that the artistic is connected directly to the greater whole and not the individual at all. That we tap into that higher consciousness as the whole of humanity and feed it back through our own consciousness to others. That our artistic dialogue is actually with everyone. No one is left out. 

a poet friend
RH Peat


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## VonBradstein (Oct 22, 2017)

PiP said:


> Okay, clickbait... we are not crazy... just checking  if anyone was paying attention.
> 
> When you write poetry do you zone out into a trance-like state or can you still hold a coherent conversation?
> 
> I ask because my husband swears that while I'm writing, despite responding with the occasional grunt to a question, I am there in body but not in mind. It's almost as if the mind moves to a different state of consciousness so while I register the conversation as 'white noise', and I obviously grunt in the right places, I do not absorb the content into the memory banks.



I find that’s the case more or less with any writing. The other phenomena is time disappearing. I have got so into it at times (the rare occasion my wife is out of town and I find myself off work for a few days) where I literally do not move from my chair for ten hours and don’t even notice it had been ten hours. I once wrote 50,000 words without peeing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## SueC (Oct 22, 2017)

Von, I agree with you. Every once in a while you see a writer profiled as someone who spends days in his "den," not to be disturbed and so on. Until I became "enlightened," I thought that was crazy! Ha! Now that I am retired and can spend much more time writing, I can easily see how that happens. If I take up my laptop while watching the morning news, it is not unusual for me to still be there well into the afternoon - still in my pajamas - and it is an eerie feeling to come out of that, thinking it's still 9 a.m. when it's closer to 4:00. Good point.


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## midnightpoet (Oct 22, 2017)

Why and how do whole verses jump into my head all at once?  Being non-pedantic, I'd only say I'm glad they do.  Excuse me while I zone out.

A poet is a flight of fancy
soaring over the mundane,
words on gossamer wings.


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## JustRob (Oct 22, 2017)

midnightpoet said:


> Why and how do whole verses jump into my head all at once?  Being non-pedantic, I'd only say I'm glad they do.  Excuse me while I zone out.



Yes, the same thing happens to me occasionally, but then I'm just crazy to try writing poetry. Maybe the thread title wasn't referring to that though.


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## Grizzly (Oct 22, 2017)

PiP said:


> So all poets souls are connected in some way?



I think so... all poet souls, all writer souls, all reader souls, all _souls_ in general — we're all one after all, aren't we? (given I've spent the last three months hopping from music festivals to native holy sites to meditation retreats, and the whole "all one choose love" ideology is pretty well ingrained at this point) :raindeer:


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## Grizzly (Oct 22, 2017)

Do y'all ever experience, after reading a very good writer/poet, their voice sorta echoing in your skull? Your thoughts in their voice? So the way you perceive your world (for a bit) is through their lens, at least for a little while?


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## clark (Oct 23, 2017)

Wow.  You're all nutso to the nth.  What a bunch of weirdos I'm hanging out with here on WF.  Trances 'n hyperfoci 'n losing track of time 'n 'n 'n.  Yup.  You're all certifiable.  I'll make a call or two, do the paperwork, and get you all into appropriate facilities where you'll be attended to before you harm yourselves or others.  I'll need some addresses.  You can send them to my email.  Darkkin--do _hurry--_I'm concerned that you're going to boing! yourself out an upstairs window on your yoga ball. . .

I, unlike you crazies, am a paragon of order and rationality when I write.  I put on a pot of coffee, make sure I 'm amply supplied with cigarettes, and sit down at my desk at 11:30 sharp.  I write until about 7:00 am, at which time I gather up the 5000 wads of crumpled 8.5 x 11 paper strewn from one end of my study to the other, stuff the paper in the woodstove, make a huge breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, toast, yogurt, fruit and (by now) my fourth pot of coffee .  After eating breakfast, I read the night's work to my dog, Mooner.  That usually takes 2 minutes, which is good because the reading time dovetails perfectly with his attention span.  I then return to my desk and write, typically, until about 2.  When the multi-coloured spots in front of my eyes turn to a constant red, I get up, gather the 3000 wads of crumpled 8.5 x 11 paper strewn from one end of my study to the other, stuff them in my bed, then crawl into the woodstove for a few hours sleep.  When I awake, at 4 pm, I put the dog in the shower and read the day's production to the computer.  Which beeps in appreciation now and then.  This second reading usually takes one minute.  At 5pm, I make a lovely dinner--perhaps steak, baked potato, a nice salad, and pie for dessert.  I feed all of that to Mooner (he leaves me the salad), eat a can of Alpo, and watch a movie or two on Netflix.  At about 9:30 pm my sister or brother, sometimes my neighbor, Ed, come to the house.  They tidy up for me, make sure the knives and sharp objects are locked up (for some reason), give me my pills (they don't leave them in the house, for some reason), take all the wads of paper out of my bed (for some reason) and leave at about 11 pm.  At 11:30 pm I sit down at my desk and. . . . . . .

Now, if you nutballs would just adopt a similar, orderly writing regimen, you too could enjoy my levels of absolutely predictable productivity, and I wouldn't have to go to all this trouble to protect you from yourselves.  I mean, really. . . . . . . .


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## Darren White (Oct 23, 2017)

LOL Clark, that cracked me up big time. Just for your information, I made a few phonecalls. Mooner asked me to. He is fed up eating your food, smoking your cigs and drinking your booze. Oh, and hearing more of your lines? He.... erm.... let's just say he didn't like it one bit.


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## TL Murphy (Oct 25, 2017)

I think it makes most people in the world more comfortable to think of poets as crazy, because most people in the world don't want to think outside their comfort zone.  They don't want to question their understanding of reality. The task of poets (and all artists) is to think outside the box, push the limits of meaning, find original ways to express things, explore new ideas, and even to question the nature of reality itself.  This is where great poetry comes from -  imaginations that can court the absurd, or see things from a completely original way.  And sometimes the language that poets must use to express these things, even in conversation can sound so far "out there" that it's difficult for some people to see it as rational. So, I guess it depends on what your definition of "crazy" is.  If it means, unable to function in society, then no, poet's aren't crazy.  But if it means thinking differently than everyone else, well, maybe poets are crazy.


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## PiP (Oct 25, 2017)

TL Murphy said:


> I think it makes most people in the world more comfortable to think of poets as crazy, because most people in the world don't want to think outside their comfort zone. They don't want to question their understanding of reality.



I do think those of us who are serious about writing poetry look at life differently in that nothing is as it first appears.



> The task of poets (and all artists) is to think outside the box, push the limits of meaning, find original ways to express things, explore new ideas, and even to question the nature of reality itself.



And this is why poetry is more difficult to write than prose (in my opinion)


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## RHPeat (Oct 26, 2017)

Tim

By all means let the poet evoke the ascending spirit of humanity. Knowing can take place without understanding. A feeling is just as vital as a reason. Maybe even more so. 

a poet friend
RH Peat


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## clark (Oct 26, 2017)

I find writing poetry intense. . .but brief.  I'd burn up where I sit were it protracted.  The poem grabs me and the core of the piece is on the page/screen in minutes.  If I become too reflective, or break the moment by getting up for coffee or anything else, I'm usually done.  When I return to my desk, what I then do will be mechanical and linear.  Definitely of a different creative order.  I'm also writing two novels. . .and that is a whole different experience.  A Grizzly experience.  I can write for HOURS. . .maybe not 50,000 words without peeing. . .and if I have to get up, or jump in the car to do something, I can keep writing in my head and pick up where I left off without difficulty, UNLESS I'm trying to work in-depth with the psyche of a character.  THAT kind of writing is close to the experience of writing poetry.  I 'go away', am quite lost.  I used to kid my dear friend Neetu about her 'trances' when writing poetry, until I realized I do it myself.

I also write differently with pen and paper rather than keyboard.  I have difficulty working on the novels with pen and paper, because my head is going so much faster than the pen.  It's frustrating--the one cannot keep up to the other!

Returning to the thread topic proper--yes, poets are crazy.  Tim said it well.  Most people--as far as I can tell--experience reality as an unfolding linear progression.  A leads to B leads to C whoops! forgot B1 backtrack hurry back to C ok on track again D leads to E. . .and so on.  Poets are often accused of being disorganized or vague or distracted, because they experience reality WHOLE-ISTICALLY.  Not every single minute. . .were that the case they couldn't drive cars or cook meals or paint the backyard fence. . .but frequently in a given day. 

When I was very young I read Colin Wilson's first book,  _The Outsider_, an astonishing book for a teenager to absorb, and a sentence there has stuck in my head my whole life:  "_The Outsider sees too deeply and too much, and what he sees is essentially chaos."_  The way a poet "sees" is often like that, and the poem she writes is an attempt to both capture that chaos. . .and dispel it.  An anecdote I'm fond of is apropos:  Dali was standing in a gallery, looking at one of his paintings on exhibit.  A well-dressed woman--clearly not realizing who he was--came and stood by him.  After a moment she sniffed and said, "Humph.  I've never seen a clock like that."  Dali turned to her and remarked, "Ah yes, Madam. . .but don't you wish you had!"  Well, of course, Dali was wrong.  She wished no such thing.  She is perfectly happy in her linear world, and there's nothing wrong with that.  Were it not for the linear reality of A, B, C, D,. . . there would be no functional world for the artist/poet to penetrate and 'interpret' and "see too deeply and too much."  I'm dissatisfied with the clarity, or lack thereof, of what I've just written here. . .but it's my best shot.  For now.


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## TuesdayEve (Oct 26, 2017)

In the car...or the bus...often the first line will appear in my head as I'm driving... 
am very comfortable and relaxed in the bus or car... quiet helps but in the car usually everything becomes background noise  I'm not focused on although there's an auto pilot present, an awareness of everything around me...I've written whole poems in an hour driving home from work sitting in traffic using the recorder on my phone... the words come out and later I will organize the sentences and stanzas...Illinois is a hands free state, but, I'm a rebel... 
In the bus however, any hand held device is definitly not acceptable...most times I just have to say the lines over and over again, trying to remember until I can drop off the students and write it down....at home... it's  hit or miss, sometimes there's an abundance of words and other times, nothin...in those moments, the WF word games are a distraction allowing me to excersice my brain, hone and develope new skills and... it's fun... 
interesting the differences and shared process we have in common...


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## Thaumiel (Oct 26, 2017)

You're all talking about intensely concentrating on stuff and I can't even manage to not procrastinate when I'm playing computer games, which is how I procrastinate from everything else.

No wonder I'm not writing. :highly_amused:


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## TL Murphy (Oct 28, 2017)

In my own mind I am perfectly sane.


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## RHPeat (Oct 28, 2017)

Tim

All the crazy people say that. 

a poet friend
RH Peat


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## midnightpoet (Oct 28, 2017)

Anybody else have this experience? Poems come to me often in the middle of the night, waking me up.  I can't go back to sleep until I go turn on the laptop and write it down.  If that's crazy, give me a straight-jacket.:icon_cheesygrin:


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## sas (Oct 28, 2017)

midnightpoet said:


> Anybody else have this experience? Poems come to me often in the middle of the night, waking me up.  I can't go back to sleep until I go turn on the laptop and write it down.  If that's crazy, give me a straight-jacket.:icon_cheesygrin:



Yep! I've gone into my office at 4 am to write before I've lost the thought. I'm most creative in bed...smiles.


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## Robbie (Oct 28, 2017)

....and you are very witty Sas.


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## Robbie (Oct 28, 2017)

That is why I used to keep a notebook and pen on my nightstand. Now, I just pick up my phone but I have to write it down or it will keep me awake.


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## Darren White (Oct 28, 2017)

midnightpoet said:


> Anybody else have this experience? Poems come to me often in the middle of the night, waking me up.  I can't go back to sleep until I go turn on the laptop and write it down.  If that's crazy, give me a straight-jacket.:icon_cheesygrin:



ME! 
I always have notebooks and pencils next to my bed.


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## PiP (Oct 28, 2017)

Darren White said:


> ME!
> I always have notebooks and pencils next to my bed.



Most definitely! The trouble is I scrawl things in the middle of the night and then I can't read them. I've now taken to turning on the bedside light so I can actually see what I am writing!


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## sas (Oct 28, 2017)

No doubt all creative/inventive types do this when they should be sleeping. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


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## Nellie (Nov 9, 2017)

Sir Andrew Motion was Poet Laureate of the UK from 1999 to 2009. He offers 10 tips on being a successful poet:



> *Top 10 tips for being a successful poet*
> 
> By Alison Feeney-Hart
> *1. Let your subject find you
> ...




So, for most poets, writing is a way of living after some unconceivable or awful incident happens in order to stay sane. Poetry is the most creative/imaginative way of writing, IMO.


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## C.Gholy (Dec 11, 2017)

Nothing wrong with a crazy soul!


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## CrimsonAngel223 (Dec 12, 2017)

Yes, to be a successful poet you must be a least somewhat insane!


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## Pelwrath (Dec 12, 2017)

Who's crazy? The crazy writer or those that like the crazy writer?


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## ChloeRose (Oct 26, 2018)

I once lost my forum decorum
And fell in love with a Brit
Worst best year of my life
Oh, that I could be his wife
But alas I am left with his wit.








****This is where my quote would be*****


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## ChloeRose (Oct 26, 2018)

I'm not sure I know of anyone for comparison's sake. The only difference maybe being that poets attempt to put into words the barking dogs that reside in our heads.


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## TL Murphy (Oct 29, 2018)

I hear cats barking.  Maybe I am crazy.


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## escorial (Oct 31, 2018)

Sitting in a room full of poets I reckon it's like being on a trading floor at the stock exchange but there is more empathy amongst the stockbrockers...


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## Angalfaria (Jun 5, 2019)

I love writing and for this sometimes quarreled with my wife. One day we fixed to going a tour outside of our town. Everything is OK and decide that going to sleep the previous night quickly because we are going in the early morning of the next day. My wife and my son get to sleep quickly, and I decide one hour later, I go to sleep. I sit to write a poetry which I research from a few months. One hour doesn't matter; I don't know how the night passed away. It's 5 o'clock by my watch, and I shocked. Just going to sleep and get up 10 am become so tired, and my wife doesn't talk me for a couple of weeks.


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## Amnesiac (Jun 5, 2019)

I wish my wife would quit talking to me for a couple of weeks! Hell, even a couple of hours would be pure heaven!


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## Angalfaria (Jun 14, 2019)

The poets are all time crazy.


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## Olly Buckle (Jun 15, 2019)

yes , but what is special about poets. All writers are crazy, what makes poets specially so?


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## escorial (Jun 15, 2019)

Why don't poets marry supermodels


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## Olly Buckle (Jun 16, 2019)

I think it is the other way around, esc. The poets wouldn't mind, it's the supermodels that don't go for it. My guess would be that it is the one form of writing that almost nobody makes a living at and those that do make a lousy one. It's not that all writers of other things are going to do well, but at least some of them do. So maybe poets are crazier than most writers because they spend their time on an esoteric form that is rarely appreciated except by other poets, and let's face it, even they are going to be slightly critical of anyone else's work if it isn't Shakespeare's or someone else who has been dead ages. I can imagine a supermodel married to a successful script writer, heck I can imagine one with anyone rich and successful, not a poet. 
Perhaps that is how you could attract women esc. become a successful writer?


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## BornForBurning (Jun 17, 2019)

Poets and musicians both are a bit crazy.


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## Angalfaria (Jun 20, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> yes , but what is special about poets. All writers are crazy, what makes poets specially so?


The body is here and the mind moves to the other state.


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## Bard_Daniel (Jun 20, 2019)

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but poets are known to have the highest incidence of mental illness across all sorts of writers.

Just sayin'.


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## TL Murphy (Jun 21, 2019)

Bard_Daniel said:


> I don't know if this has been mentioned, but poets are known to have the highest incidence of mental illness across all sorts of writers.
> 
> Just sayin'.




Where did you get that information from?


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## clark (Jun 21, 2019)

TIM -- Daniel's on solid ground. Check out Wiki here:

https://*en.wikipedia.org*/wiki/Category:*Writers_who_committed_suicide*

I knew we were at the front of this race of dubious distinction, but I was shocked at how _far _we were in 'front'!  Have a look at the numbers in the link. There you'll see poets at 152 suicides. The nearest of six other categories of writers is journalists at 66.

In _The Outsider _(early 60s), Colin Wilson writes in this brilliant analysis of the societal status quo: "The Outsider sees too deeply and too much, and what he sees is essentially Chaos." Poets are more inclined to be 'Outsiders' than other writers and those of us who tentatively walk the edge of sanity/madness with no safety net of love and care to catch us if we fall. . . .well. . . . .


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## TL Murphy (Jun 21, 2019)

I looked at the study and was relieved to find that it isn't the poetry that drives us insane. We go insane first, then we write poetry.


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## clark (Jun 21, 2019)

Along with Darren (so far), I clicked LOL because Tim's remark itself warrants a wry smile. Its _base, _​however, ain't so humorous. Someone who's going over the edge anyway needs an outlet as a prelude to the final act. Do they choose painting or acting or skydiving or sculpture or tree climbing or auto racing? Oh no. . . . . .they choose Poetry.  Hmmmmm.


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## TL Murphy (Jun 21, 2019)

I've always been fascinated in the correlation between creativity and mental illness. Surely the mental state is pre-existing. The question is, does mental illness cause a more creative mind or is creativity developed as an outlet or are the two simply inseparable parta of the same psyche?


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## Darren White (Jun 22, 2019)

For me Edvard Munch's "Scream" (a painting) is the epitome of mental illness, but that is of course my very personal interpretation. For me poetry is my way to sort the chaos inside. Without the ability to write I would be The Scream 
So I guess that it's not only poetry, but all creativity.
But what was first? Chicken? Egg?


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## Angalfaria (Jun 26, 2019)

Darren White said:


> For me Edvard Munch's "Scream" (a painting) is the epitome of mental illness, but that is of course my very personal interpretation. For me poetry is my way to sort the chaos inside. Without the ability to write I would be The Scream
> So I guess that it's not only poetry, but all creativity.
> But what was first? Chicken? Egg?


I think both are first. LOL


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## Firemajic (Jun 27, 2019)

Speaking from a personal POV, I am definitely crazy  nuttier than a Fruit Bat, BUT... I am less crazy when I allow myself the freedom of creativity...


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## TL Murphy (Jun 27, 2019)

I don't think poetry makes you crazy but crazy can make you a poet. On the other hand, why did the pig cross the road?


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## Firemajic (Jun 27, 2019)

TL Murphy said:


> I don't think poetry makes you crazy but crazy can make you a poet. On the other hand, why did the pig cross the road?




The Pig crossed the road because the chicken crossed the road.... :razz:


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## RHPeat (Jun 28, 2019)

Has Clark or Tim arrived yet?
I'm sorry. I thought this was a party, and I'd see old friends from the hospital. 

a poet friend as crazy as the best of them. 
RH Peat


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## TL Murphy (Jun 28, 2019)

Ron, this is the hospital.  The party is next door. Which were you looking for?


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## Firemajic (Jun 28, 2019)

TL Murphy said:


> Ron, this is the hospital.  The party is next door. Which were you looking for?




:coffeescreen:


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## Olly Buckle (Jun 28, 2019)

Mark Twain said about horse racing, 'Every body knows one horse is faster than the others, the fun is in working out which.' 
Everybody knows some poets are sane and some are not, the fun is in working out which is which.


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## escorial (Jun 28, 2019)

So many racehorse trainers are brilliant judges of a slow horse


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## TL Murphy (Jun 29, 2019)

Escatorial, don't  confuse critique with judgement.


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## Pulse (Aug 21, 2019)

One of my Literature professors told me if you want to write something that has not been written before, you need to be on the edge of what you feel will necessarily be accepted.  In other words, it is necessary to challenge the 'terms and conditions'.  Since the Greek 'poesis' refers to bringing into existence that which was not here before, what you say would make sense.  I dislike being interrupted when I'm deep in subconscious thought.  You can contrast this with the Latin word 'vates', meainig diviner or prophet and from which we obtain 'vatic'.


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## Olly Buckle (Aug 21, 2019)

hence Vati-can ?


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## thefloridapoet (Aug 21, 2019)

Oh my goodness, you guys are over my head......    "says Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz"


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## clark (Aug 22, 2019)

Just noticed this thread has been skipping along for over two years. Sheesh! Are we crazy? Fuckin' aye, we are! Crazy as shithouse rats. "Options" has gotta be one of the more powerful words in the lexicon of human growth. Anyone reading this could probably earn an above-average salary writing copy for McKim advertising, or how 'bout spec sheets for HP Technologies? Or new-car brochures for Honda? Or Annual Reports for Sun Life Financial? We all _chose_​ to do this. Yup. Crazy...…………… Thing is, we wouldn't have it any other way.


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## Art Man (Aug 22, 2019)

TL Murphy said:


> I don't think poetry makes you crazy but crazy can make you a poet. On the other hand, why did the pig cross the road?



Perhaps.


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## Darren White (Aug 22, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> hence Vati-can ?


No, Olly, it's em-vatic


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## Gumby (Aug 22, 2019)

TL Murphy said:


> I don't think poetry makes you crazy but crazy can make you a poet. On the other hand, why did the pig cross the road?



Are we even sure that the pig crossed the road? Was it an actual road or a metaphorical road? Was he returning from having crossed the road, which would mean that he actually "double crossed" the road. Or was he placing crosses at the side of the road to memorialize all the roadkill which said road had racked up? So much is unanswered here...


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## RHPeat (Aug 22, 2019)

Gumby said:


> Are we even sure that the pig crossed the road? Was it an actual road or a metaphorical road? Was he returning from having crossed the road, which would mean that he actually "double crossed" the road. Or was he placing crosses at the side of the road to memorialize all the roadkill which said road had racked up? So much is unanswered here...



Let's see, 
It wasn't the one that went to market,
and it wasn't the one that stayed home.
It couldn't have been the one that ate roast beef. 
It definitely wasn't the one that had none. 
It had to be the one that Wee-weeied all the way home.


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## TL Murphy (Aug 22, 2019)

It's a simple question. Of course everything is metaphorical.


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## Pulse (Aug 23, 2019)

that's what I was trying to explain to the officer from the Governmental Regulation of Laboratories but the coroner appeared in a puff of chemical obscurity


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## Pulse (Aug 23, 2019)

While the world reels and Jupiter is jinxed 
a girl feels misunderstood, a guy thinks
must be the hormones, a homeowner he
and hence a respectable citizen.
Pass her to analysis or other
siblings of the quibbling object.  Subject 
her to new contortions of the sister
sciences.  Fashion a rational mode.


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## thefloridapoet (Sep 4, 2019)

.......and you guys are helping to distract me from what is happening outside my window and across the Gulf Stream.........(Hurricane Dorian)  thanks.  Yes, poets are crazy.  I do zone out when I'm writing. Fortunately, I live alone and can shut off my cell phone and ignore the door bell, although I do get pissed when my neighbor insists on banging on the door because he knows I'm home, I'm not opening up and he thinks I must have fallen and passed out cold!   Me to him:  "I'M JUST TRYING TO WRITE A POEM FOR GOD'S SAKE! GET OUT OF MY FACE!"  (Just kidding, never said that to him, but wanted to.  My friends have, however, blown my phone up and beaten my door down from not responding to them.  I live in an apartment building.)


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## TL Murphy (Sep 5, 2019)

floridapoet, it sounds to me like your neighbor and all your friends and probably your dog are crazy and you are the only one who can save the world so send me a PM with your credit card number and I'll make sure your message gets out.


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## badgerjelly (Sep 5, 2019)

Weird question? That is like asking ‘do you find it hard to text on your phone whilst driving a car?’ You should do one or the other or risk disaster!

Obviously artistic pursuits are not really dangerous to health ... useless you’re trying to do so whilst operating heavy machinery


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## clark (Sep 5, 2019)

Ah Katrina! Always there with the hot blade to slice thru the offal of the argument! FASHION A RATIONAL MODE!! Roll in righteous redemption with the rhythm of that rousing rally in redundant rebellion!!! Cast off these shackles of nuance, suggestion, inference, ambiguity, subtlety, and (horrors!) _double entendre!) _Ah rationality--how we have missed you:'let me count the ways' (later, baby, later. . .) . We shall eschew (digest THAT!) the image, the metaphor, even the limping simile. From now on, everything we write shall be in business-friendly and direct English. Alexander Pope shall be our high priest in this Synod For Sane Syntax. Katrina promised I could be Head of Security. In that capacity, I have already despatched a platoon to demand the pointy stick from Pip. For some reason Katrina said I should send a battalion, put the nuclear fleet on high alert, and call a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 I get the feeling she's anticipating a bit of resistance from the current owner. . . .​


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## midnightpoet (Sep 5, 2019)

The same thing can be said of writers in general - I remember a writer's group I was in someone read an off-the-wall, spaced out story and my first comment was "You've got to quit smoking that stuff."  Got a laugh from the group anyway. Does having a fervent imagination mean you're crazy?  Hopefully not, but in my mind poets and writers are the sane ones, the rest of the world is barking mad.:grin:


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## Mish (Sep 6, 2019)

What's crazy anyway? Do we go with the outline of DSM 5 or just the loose interpretation of the word? If DSM 5 hardly anyone would qualify, even the people we would consider pretty screw loose. If the loose interpretation, then hardly anyone is sane. Have you ever lost your cool in front of other or just by yourself? Well, congrats, you won the lotto! Off to the loony bin with you!

And, what's a poet anyway? How do you know you really are a poet and not just some schmuck who writes words that (kinda) rhyme? Is there some kind of IQ like poetry test that you can pass so you can have a sticker saying "I did a poetry test and all I got was this lousy sticker confirming once and for all that I really am a poet?" Is there some global ayatollah poet authority on such matters?



And what's zoning out anyway? Is it just when you are very focused on something because your mind is busy? Well, you don't have to write poetry for that you could be cooking or watching a movie or brushing your pet's hair. When your mind is busy you tend to focus on that which you think about at the expense of "other people's problems".


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## TL Murphy (Sep 6, 2019)

You're a poet when you think you're a poet.


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## Robbie (Sep 6, 2019)

badgerjelly said:


> Weird question? That is like asking ‘do you find it hard to text on your phone whilst driving a car?’ You should do one or the other or risk disaster!
> 
> Obviously artistic pursuits are not really dangerous to health ... useless you’re trying to do so whilst operating heavy machinery



Or heart surgery. I am not sure if anything I’d ever 
perfected. What about the garden of Eden?


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## TL Murphy (Sep 7, 2019)

badgerjelly said:


> Obviously artistic pursuits are not really dangerous to health ... useless you’re trying to do so whilst operating heavy machinery



I'm pretty sure I will die in the act of being an artist.


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## badgerjelly (Sep 9, 2019)

TL Murphy said:


> You're a poet when you think you're a poet.



I think I’m a watermelon. Split me open and I’m red inside; with black bits. Need I more proof?


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## Sustrai (Oct 29, 2019)

yes, invariably


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## TL Murphy (Oct 31, 2019)

badgerjelly said:


> I think I’m a watermelon. Split me open and I’m red inside; with black bits. Need I more proof?




Definitely a watermelon.


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