For the last couple of weeks, I've regularly reprimanded myself for not working on the poetry collection I had hoped to have completed by now. I can make perfectly "reasonable" excuses, but in reality, the block I'm up against is titling my poems. It wasn't that long ago that I was faced with titling my manuscript, which was trying enough, but titling poetry is significantly more challenging.
Of course, occasionally we can fall back on the option of pulling a line from the poem for the title, but long gone are the days when we can title something "Sonnet # " (well we could, but somewhat ironically). The fact is, while for a novel a title is the lure but not necessarily definitive of the entire work, for a poem, the title can be the key to the entire piece – an additional line that stands distinct and yet must accentuate and underscore the core of the piece, without achieving the "Snakes on a Plane" effect. [Honestly, I have not seen the movie, but I'm basing my comparison on this scene from Gilmore Girls. Point being, there must be more to anything than can be encompassed by its title alone. Doubly so for poetry.]
The simplest option of course would be to leave the poems untitled, but I refuse to do that for more than 1 piece in this collection, which leaves so many more pieces that somehow all need perfect titles. This is a process which I feel cannot effectively be expedited. One floated up from the aether of my mind earlier this week, which was wonderful, but not quite the pace I need to move this project from its current, unfinished state to completion.
Meanwhile, I am diligently practicing my procrastination.
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