The hardest thing about writing a book of poetry is forgiving yourself for not being a better poet.
There is a finality to putting something in print, a finality that is not there when you post something to your blog. You can always edit your blog. You can always improve what you have posted.
You cannot edit a book that has been sold and shipped. You cannot improve it.
Publishing a book is way too much like telling the truth. It is almost impossible to take back the truth. We humans might be crazy, but at least most of us are not crazy enough we would want tell the truth! At least you can say that much for us.
I’d have to be crazy to want to sell a book.
Beautifully penned! You can edit ebooks though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! That’s true! Of course, once it’s “shipped”, you can’t take it back. Not even an ebook, I’m guessing. Or am I mistaken about that?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think Kindle has a facility of updating the book. Need to check again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Reena Saxena.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We are all crazy Paul, we just have different shades of crazy…..
“Except that the goal, falls short of the reach”… Leonard Cohen..
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s so true, Ivor! We’re all crazy, each in our own way. It seems both the blessing and the curse of our species. Thanks for the Cohen! I love him!
LikeLiked by 1 person
By the gods, Cohen is great! Always will be!
LikeLike
Always my pleasure Paul…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know that it’s all that impossible to take back the truth — it doesn’t seem to be a problem for Trump (granted that he’s not a poet and, in any case, doesn’t often tell the truth in the first place). But I digress from the thrust of your post: I don’t think “not being a better poet” stems from not wanting to “tell the truth” as much as it does from an insufficiency of qualities that form and inform a truth-telling poet (admittedly an insufficient way of putting it).
As Oscar Wilde put it, “All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.” There is much truth in those words.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good points. Very good points. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oscar Wilde (posthumously) and I (part humorously) thank you.
LikeLike
Wow, I never thought about publishing books this way. A nice perspective. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! Much appreciated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are welcome. 🙂
LikeLike