The easiest thing about writing poetry

3 juni 2013 The easiest thing about writing poetry is that you only need pen and paper. You can work in your bed, that’s the best thing. Not many professions offer this kind of benefit. Most of my poems had their kick-off at night, in bed, after days or sometimes weeks of ‘waiting for the right moment’.  Almost every idea or sketch for a poem gets itself worked up into a light panic: am I still capable of writing a poem? But according to the Low Saxon writer Jan Siebo Uffen, slight panic is very beneficial in the process of writing. So when the light panic eventually keeps me awake at night, I might as well get to work. Pen and paper always at hand on the nightstand. 

At one time it was different, when I used to make paintings and sculptures. Not in bed! What a depressing load of materials you need just to paint and sculpt. No, I’m glad I got rid of almost all my material, needing only a pen and something to scribble on, trying to get past a light panic in the night.