Seven Poems Planned

It's January 8, and I've written two of the seven poems I swore I'd have first drafts of by the end of December. Sounds like ahead of schedule to me.

This latter one, though. It's from the middle-brother (Freshwater)'s perspective. I haven't written in his voice in a WHILE, and the last time I did, I didn't realize what distinguished his from mine, or from his siblings'. What characterizes him, as best I figure, is an airiness. Room for reflection, even as things are happening. Compared to his brother (Wellwater), who's clear but the metaphysical, he's very lyrical. Their sister is pretty straightforward. Of course, they all write about the same things, and many of the same issues underlie them.

This was a dream-poem. Or better said, a poem that starts in a dream, but focuses into some sort of dream-time travel. Yeah. Tributary's like that. So is Wellwater, but I know you don't have them in front of you, so I won't tease.

Instead, let's talk about taking planned art into production. I wrote out the plot-parameters of these poems as far back as November, so I could smooth the action a little more easily. And I spent a few months smoothing. Now, writing them, they're filling out in the most remarkable ways, mostly in their mystic qualities, and their images. But there's something else, too: motivation is appearing where I hadn't seen the need for it before. Pinning these floating narratives to sensory details is itself becoming kind of magical.

This seems different from planning an essay. Maybe more akin to sketching a painting. Visual artists, what's your process? This sound familiar?