Reprint: Behind the Poem

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Writing this was, as is normal with these sorts of things, both nerve-wracking and sort-of-great.

Nerve-wracking because I want to come off as reasonably intelligent/aware of my process. And writing, though usually joyful, isn't easy.

Sort-of-great because I'm enjoying stretching my first-person-narrative muscles in preparation for working on my manuscript of creative non-fiction about urban forests this fall.

Also, like most writers, I don't always know how I feel about things until I write about them. So these pieces help to link up my conscious and my sub-conscious thoughts about what and why I write...though I don't want them getting too cozy. I'm not sure if I'd be able to write poems if I was always completely aware of the whys/wherefores.