On artistic inspiration, once again

"It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page."
- Joan Baez

"I never plan. I never know what the next page is going to be..... But that’s the fun of writing a novel or a story, because I don’t know what’s going to happen next."   - Haruki Murakami

“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.”  - Robert Frost

"Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.”  - Charles Bukowski

“I dropped my hoe and ran into the house and started to write this poem, 'End of Summer.’ It began as a celebration of wild geese. Eventually the geese flew out of the poem, but I like to think they left behind the sound of their beating wings.”   - Stanley Kunitz

"When the poem arrives at your door, begin to dance immediately. Don’t hesitate; don’t offer a cup of tea; don’t ask how the journey was. That’s for prose. Take the poem in your arms and dance to the music that only you can hear.

"This is the amazing thing: The poem knows the steps."  

- Tom Hirons (from his lovely blog post, 'On Wooing the Poem. A Beginner's Guide)