Hi! Welcome to my homepage!
THE CREATION OF THE POEM
Deane P.
Goodwin -- I constantly search for sources of concepts for
poems. A phrase overheard, a unique point of view offered in print or media, or
observation of people and things around me. Without fail, I carry a notepad and pen with
me at all times, as I must write the thing down immediately, or it becomes lost to the
void for all time. I have, at the moment, thousands of these observations and views
written down, but undeveloped. The act of observing is a lesson and a positive in itself,
and some of these ideas will resurface in future work. One of my great gifts is the
ability to recall and find references I have written when they are ready to set themselves
to paper, that is, when I have grown insightful and skillful enough to be worthy of the
idea. The Dance was a brief snip in one of my notebooks, "guests waltz through the
masquerade, unscathed". This coupled with an actual observation of two strangers
performing barnyard mating rituals at a social gathering one night, was the impetus behind
this poem. My observation at the time was that I had seen, indeed performed, many of these
same rituals in my life, and so had everyone I knew. So The Dance became what I considered
to be an observation on daily life, as well as a statement of the most probable outcome of
it. The Dance was created initially in a period of about 20 minutes, while observing the
canny innuendo of the particular participants. There is no particular time or place at
which I write, having written in the middle of the night, alone, and in a roomful of loud
people. The only common thread throughout my writing, including this, is that all my
initial writing is done with pen and paper. The kinetic flow of the pen seems to stimulate
and harmonize with my thoughts, each augmenting and enhancing the other. I have attempted
to create written work, from poetry to technical manuals, on word processors and
typewriters, and without fail they appear stiff, disjointed and choppy, offering only the
pen and paper option to salvage them from oblivion. Eventually, even I figure it out, and
so I have permanently relegated this trusty electronic device to one of revision,
collation and spelling.