Why writing poetry is like fighting a duel

Poetry must combine thought and writing for it to be any good. If it is only thought, no one but the poet and perhaps someone he speaks it to gets to enjoy it. So a poem must be written to be widely enjoyed. But writing imposes a foreign structure on a poem; it slows the poem down immensely and subjects it to structure. The flow of poetic thought is encumbered by the bulky responsibility to actually write or type the words, to format them, to make them fit in an orderly way. The key to good poetry is to think like you weren't writing and write like you weren't thinking: to achieve the levity and brightness of thought together with the gravity and impact of written word. Good poetry always delivers a sense of spontaneous thought and calculated word.

This is obvious in the nature of the two communications and combining them is so hard because they are mutually resistant. The grip of brilliant conversation lies largely in its spontaneity; a brilliant joke in the moment is hardly funny a moment later when it is obvious it has been calculated. Likewise a stunning retort. The amusing or enchanting quality of expressions, mannerisms, and syntax in casual conversation come from their spontaneity. This is why acting requires so much talent. But written word, conversely, owes its primary qualities to the fact that it is not spontaneous. It is calculated, deliberate, and precise. The brilliance of the written word is not so much that an author could think up this or that idea - although some original ideas are so brilliant that they are unbelievable even in the written word - but in the effect of its deliberate designs.

And thus poetry is so hard to write. One person could write a hundred volumes of prose or say a thousand clever phrases, but to be Shakespeare you must almost be a god.

Corollary: when you have a thought for a poem, drop everything and start writing. Even if you're holding a baby.