Trying Hard is One of the Problems
The Great Poem
by Lawrence Raab, from The History of Forgetting
Think of Keats and his odes.
But we shouldn't have to be dying,
What I'm writing now is not
the great poem. After a few lines
I could tell. It may not even be
a particularly good poem, although
it's too early to decide about that.
Keep going, I say. See what happens.
But trying hard is one of the problems.
since it shows in the lines as a strain
or struggle that reminds the reader
too much of the writer, whereas
most readers want to listen alone.
The great poem, I think, will arrive
when I no longer care. Perhaps
I'll have abandoned art altogether,
and I won't even want to write
the poem down. But then I'll remember
what I once would have given
for this moment, and I'll go back
to my desk. And I'll write the poem
as though I were another person,
someone I will never be again.
