Observations on Inspiration

Inspiration. Where does one find it? In my experience, it usually finds me
instead. Issues, scenes, stories, recollections, anything I respond
strongly to becomes good fodder for writing about. As stated in a previous
post, I saw horses in a pasture on a misty morning and it inspired a poem.
I once wrote a 16,000 word short story called "The Concourse" based upon a
short blip of a dream I remembered having. Another night, I awoke in a
state of heightened fear as I dreamed watching my son drown. It became the
basis for "The Drowning". I read an article on Syd Barret, founder of Pink
Floyd, last year that made me want to write something about him. His story
has a tragic side, for no one ever really figured out if there was linkage
between his LSD usage and mental illness that caused him to leave the group
long before they achieved superstardom. But I didn't write anything until I
saw a magazine article about his death this year. That provided the
catalyst, the impetus, so to speak, to focus the original inspiration back
to my writing. "Ask Dick" was inspired by a story about Teri Hatcher
growing up with sexual abuse. "Why Your Mother Screams" was inspired by a
side note I read about drummer Jim Gordon while reading an online article
about Eric Clapton during his Derek and the Dominoes days.

Inspiration may come in other forms. Forms that are less structured. One
day, the words "fins and chrome" popped into my head from out of nowhere.
This was the result:

Coopdavill

Hurly burly finzenkrome
Coopdavill, she got forize
Three and ninety cubes on tap
Thunder honey, hipsenthize

Doublebull it backlights red
Her top comedown, you gettin now?
Toucher honey seat sosoft
Plushly white with skinocow

Taker to dadrive in spot
Popcorn, soda, neckalot
Coopdavill got finzenkrome
Coopdavill she take you home

©Aug. 2006. All Rights Reserved

I have found that hitting my mid-forties has been sufficient inspiration for
numerous poems about time and aging, as has past love relationships and my
twenty-year marriage to my wife.

Sensations: a turbulent fall day, a warming thaw in the middle of January,
a particular snowfall, or the point where summer gives a hint of coming
autumn. These are terrific motivators to try and capture a feeling in
words.

A song, a book, a political statement, anything it takes to stir the fires
inside is worthy of exploration in poetry.

The story I am currently in the process of writing was actually inspired by
Robert Frost's poem "The Mountain." I wanted to write something with a
similar feel to it, but make the setting the mountains of western Maine.
Frost's style is very prosey, and while I was writing my version of it I
kept getting frustrated at the lack of poetic value it seemed to have. So I
ended up changing it over to prose. In doing so, a myriad of ideas for plot
and characters have opened up to me, and I am quite excited by the
possibilities of the story line.

But inspiration isn't always so kind. It has a way of being absent for long
periods of time. It may also spring out at most inopportune times. It
behooves the writer to always have paper and pen handy to jot down ideas
when that happens. I can't say how many times I'ved missed out on a good
idea simply because it popped in, and then popped out almost as quickly when
I didn't take the time to record it.

There are times I have been able to spark some ideas or inspiration by
actually just sitting down and writing. When I open myself up to flow and
rhythm, I sometimes find concepts following close behind.

But that' s not always the case, and I have found that usually when I try to
write without any good framework established by inspiration and ideas, the
poem really goes nowhere. It gets convoluted as I try to get the juices
going, and, at the end, I find myself rather dissatisfied with the whole
thing. I keep them, though. I archive them because they can be filler in a
book (let's face it, not everything is going to be a masterpiece), or they
may inspire something different later.

These are just some observations on inspiration. If you have any you would
like to add, feel free in the comments section.