waiting on poems

The odd thing about Boice’s description of “active waiting” is that it sounds pretty much like the early stages of my poem-writing process. I can’t chase the poem too hard, or I end up with a piece that’s predictable in boring ways, or I write something I don’t feel very invested in. I have to approach each potential-poem in a sort of sideways fashion. If I put too much pressure on myself to produce a poem, then I get all nervous and nothing happens. So I read other poems when I’m trying to get started, by whatever authors suit my appetite at the moment. It sometimes feels like I’m not doing anything useful by reading around, since I’m not taking notes for a paper or a class presentation, or writing actual lines for the poem I’m supposed to have ready for class. But usually, some words I’m reading knock together in a meaningful way, and I can start my poem. All this seems pretty close to Boice’s description of “active waiting.”

But it makes me nervous to think about waiting when I have to begin a formal writing assignment. I feel like I have to get started doing something right away, or I won’t finish my paper on time. Still, other parts of Boice’s writing plan are more easily applicable to my formal writing. For example, here I am rushing to finish my blog post on the night before class. Boice’s chapters made me impatient, because they didn’t seem to get to the point fast enough. I wanted to start typing right away! Obviously, as Boice suggests, I should not have waited until the last minute to complete this assignment.

So how do I help my students begin their own papers? I have a feeling none of my students would be too interested to know how I write poems. At this point, I couldn’t teach the Boice method very effectively, because I’m not yet sold on it myself. I’ve never tried it I suppose.