Poet Jane Hirshfield said "... the feeling I have about poem-writing (is) that it is always an exploration, of discovering something I didn't already know. Who I am shifts from moment to moment, year to year. What I can perceive does as well. A new poem peers into mystery, into whatever lies just beyond the edge of knowable ground."
I bring a different poem to the writing classes each week, not only to inspire but to introduce new poets to the group members.
Rereading Frost by Linda Pastan
Sometimes I think all the best poems have been written already, and no one has time to read them, so why try to write more? At other times though, I remember how one flower in a meadow already full of flowers somehow adds to the general fireworks effect as you get to the top of a hill in Colorado, say, in high summer and just look down at all that brimming color. I also try to convince myself that the smallest note of the smallest instrument in the band, the triangle for instance, is important to the conductor who stands there, pointing his finger in the direction of the percussions, demanding that one silvery ping. And I decide not to stop trying, at least not for a while, though in truth I'd rather just sit here reading how someone else has been acquainted with the night already, and perfectly. ~ from Queen of a Rainy Country (W.W. Norton and Co, 2008)