[listenfaster]

“ There remains a strange relation to the poems I have already written. Though they were written to create or affirm my existence, they did not, once they were finished, continue to do so. What they suggested, when I read them afterward, was that I had once existed and had thoughts; something that had been alive and specific was now silent or vanished. So the poems became a kind of chastisement, taunting reminders of what was not.”

Looking back on previous writing can also be a positive reinforcement, though yeah sometimes you feel taunted, or that you could’ve done better. And small though it may feel, writing is action. You didn’t just let thing bounce around in your head, you wrote it out - you did something. My hot take on this this morning - I liked this read, thanks for posting.