Tuesday 10 August 2021

Damien B. Donnelly : part two

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?

For me, personally, writing is constantly a work in progress, looking for the voice and realizing that even that voice itself, when found, changes quickly. When I was younger, I had the impression that I had to write like others, like classic, beloved poets, I had to follow their style and their frame. The older I get, the more I realize the world is big enough for many types of frames and individuality is so much more exciting than conformity. When you grow up adopted and looking for the handle of sexuality’s closet, you learn to give yourself time to figure out who and what you are. My poetry is developing in the same way. Right now, in my 40s, I'm interested in the development of my own voice, where it has come from, what has altered it and where it is heading. Today, I am trying to be less of a control freak and this applies also to my writing of poetry. I now realise that a poem doesn't have to have a beginning, middle and an end. Sometimes a burst from the light midway through the first half is all that is needed and the rest of the poem can be edited back from overdone to just enough to attract attention.  

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