Why is it when you spend too much time on a poem, it's crap and the best ones come out in 5 minutes?

Question

I've always wondered this.
The same seems to apply to art of all types.
If you overwork it or overthink it, sometimes it's just not as good.

Answer 1

Putting down a poem is the last stage of poetic creativity. As a poet, you do not 'plan' ‎‎a poem like engineers in constructing a building. As a poet, you feel a ticklish ‎‎sensation pushing you to write. That is an indication of having labor in your heart, ‎‎spirit and mind that will give birth to an already formed embryo of a poem. ‎

Usually, the poet's subconscious does its homework when the conscious mind is ‎‎relaxing - normally during sleep - and cooks the whole ingredients of the poem on ‎‎light fire. When the conscious mind is back to work, the subconscious submits its ‎‎report to the conscious mind and hides itself away -but does not stop functioning - to ‎‎give space to the conscious mind to get a hard copy of the software (the report). This ‎‎hard copy is the conscious image of the report. The conscious image of the report ‎‎must be transformed into words, mental pictures, figures of speech, hyperbolae, ‎‎etc...To form a 'poem' as the outside world perceives. Remember, in its raw version, ‎‎the poem is a pile of mixed data, unorganized, untidy, and unsorted out and of a ‎sensitive ‎nature to letters and their meanings, as well as to sensual picture forms.‎

Now, if the conscious mind is relaxed, the poet's mood is normal and the timing is ‎‎suitable for the body, the report, the software, the data, will be easily transformed into ‎‎a hard copy, i.e., a written poem. If not, the suitable words become evasive and hard ‎‎to capture. They do not just float to the conscious mind as perfectly fit choices to what the ‎‎subconscious has intended the meanings to wear. So, the poet tries again and again to ‎‎find the suitable words but in vain, so he accepts the next best choice, not the one that was originally intended by the subconscious. Therefore, the poem seems elaborate, ugly, ‎‎lifeless -though more profound in meanings - because it lacks the 'poetic touch'. That is due ‎to performing an unauthorized; unapproved job, by accepting the next best, not the best fit, suitable and poetic words. Ttherefore, ‎the ‎more the poet digs, the farther the mind drifts away from the words intended for the ‎‎meaning; that meaning which is struggling inside the heart and mind to be ‎transformed into a hard copy; a ‎poem.‎

It's amazing how newborn poems resemble newborn babies. Not all are born beautiful. ‎‎Not all are born perfect. Not all are born to survive. Many poems die as soon as they ‎‎float up to the surface of the mind. Therefore, a perfect, beautiful, attractive and healthy (rich with ‎‎meanings) poem gives birth to itself, so to speak. The poet does not even bother to ‎‎think about the words...They are there, they have already been chosen by the talent in the background, and the poet's role at this very moment is far from being a creative mind or smart tool; his role at ‎‎this very moment is a mere medium. A simple hand that obeys the orders of the mind. ‎‎A pen, or a keyboard and two or three mechanical fingers that are giving birth to a new ‎‎form of life: poetry in a hardware form.‎

After I have realized this, and it was clear to me how a poem is formed and then ‎‎written, I never overdid or over thought a literary work. I just waited for the clue, the ‎‎indication, the instructions from my mind, and sat at the table as an obedient secretary, ‎‎and typed or wrote what it dictated. However, I had to relax to allow my conscious mind to ‎‎receive the complete, uninterrupted raw data or instructions from the subconscious, by avoiding ‎‎'thinking' about writing. I also, at an ‎earlier stage while the feelings are ‎being cooked, I do not rush the cooking by putting the raw material over a strong fire of impatience ‎or illusion that the picture is clear to my mind. This is because the conscious mind - now that it has ‎‎'sensed' that some order is on its way, and, driven by promptness of action and the habit of ‎immediate response - starts asking: 'What are we waiting for? Let's put it ‎down!" No, that, I do not do. Because that is when I ‎have to dig for suitable words in ‎vain.‎

Some poets never realize this fact. They may spend their lives having the same ‎problem, thinking there's something wrong with their vocabulary or writing ability or ‎taste for suitable words, while in fact there's nothing but creativity going on deep ‎inside, to which they need to watch out for the best timing to allow the poem to be put down on ‎paper.‎

Answer 2

That doesn't apply to building a custom car. The more time you spend on minor details the better the end result. Yes it's an art form but It requires both skill and talent.
I guess with your poems the good ones come from an inspiration.
The ones where you use your brain and writing skills don't have that edge.

Answer 3

It depends on the writer. Coleridge wrote all of "Kubla Khan" on awakening from a dream (it was an opium dream). T.S. Eliot labored over "The Four Quartets" for years. Generally speaking, romantic writers compose quickly (Wordsworth said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling) and classical writers like to revise and reframe what they have writtten.

Answer 4

I really don't know Coralicious
Maybe some are rubbish and some are delicious


ho hum

Answer 5

You have described the differences between an amateur and a professional quite well. You are an amateur.

Answer 6

because poetry should come from the heart.
If you take the time to think about it too much, it becomes stilted and mechanical

Answer 7

i think its because you try to hard.
but in five minutes or so it's directly from your heart and soul.
don't worry to much i have the same problem.