Let your mind look away

I wrote three poems last night - two haiku and a longer free verse poem. The first haiku I'd been thinking about for a couple of hours as I fed the dogs, my husband son and myself, and then drove off to last night's workshop, so the writing of it was planned in a way.

The other haiku was written quickly, in response to the writing workshop activity I was supposed to be doing with a partner - on the night it was not supposed to be a haiku the participants were supposed to be writing, but some ideas for a story. My partner wrote some useful notes and I wrote a haiku on the topic (sort of).

The free verse poem is a follow up to a conversation I'd had a couple of days earlier, and also linked in nicely with another poem I had written a month or so ago.

So? This is meant to be about creativity, not poetry. What's my point? you may ask.

My point is that if you stop watching your brain intently, you may come up with sometimes startlingly creative things. The first of my haiku, penned in a rush because I didn't have much time to spare, is every bit as good as haiku I've spent much longer over.

The second haiku was an amusing take on the exercise my partner and I were meant to be doing, and made me smile, even if the tutor wasn't as amused.

The free verse poem has some fine lines in it, and once I've had a chance to think further about it (or sleep on it), I think it will be a fine poem.

I was not thinking hard about the poetry I was doing and my mind was thinking about the set exercise we were doing as well as subconsciously thinking about the poems. My point is that when you look away, the subconscious mind can sneak out and do its work - you can be surprised and delighted at what you can come up with if the look away for a little while.