These poems which I post most mornings are not intended as final drafts. They are part of a long work in progress, and this explains why the same themes and images return time and time again. In some cases I have drawn heavily on the work of other poets, but more often than not, my early morning poems are improvisations, some of which work much better than others. My aim is to accumulate material for the larger project, and this material will be edited down, and I suspect that much of it will not make it into the final work. All I can say is that while some people go to the gym for an early morning workout, I prefer to use the exercise of writing a short piece of poetry before I start my day. I do appreciate, however, that the two activities are not mutually exclusive. Occasionally, I find time to take a second look at an earlier post and rework it: this happens particularly when I am not happy with an early draft. Such is the case today!
John Lyons
johnjosephlyons 