The Object of My Poetic Desire: "That?"

A chapbook generally has two methods of assembly:

1) Go through your many poems written over the course of years and stick all the best ones together that have anything in common or relate to each other, either in similarities or opposites. All of the hardest work is already done by virtue of being a poet, with only edits and re-arranging to toil over.

2) Pick a major theme or story and write one from the ground up. Torture yourself over every poem in the sequence, whether you try to envision it from beginning to end, in random order, or even "signature pieces" with in-between space to be determined.

I chose the second one, and it is as rewarding as it is seemingly futile. Poetry is often about the unexpected and spontaneous, and crafting something with a deliberate story in mind can be treacherous. It's the difference between being nominated to an already-existing political party and starting your own: you'd better have goals you believe in and energy to chase down every last possible voter!

A little over a week ago, I had to choose between two paths for the chapbook to take: devote all of it to one perspective, or use two perspectives and let each have a half? Each comes with its own advantages and disadvantages, but I chose the mono-view and hope it doesn't get old with readers or myself. 

There is a poet whose stage name is Black Madonna, and she has the motto, "Don't write poetry because you can, write it because you can't not!" I whole-heartedly agree. I write poetry because I can't not, but I write these poems because they were assigned their places. It's like always having a passion for painting, then being commissioned to render the horizon over Chicago: "...that?"

**EDIT** The part about building from the ground up may turn out to be a bold-faced lie. I've just purged my old poetry folders for material that looks like it would fit in with the other poems already slotted for the chapbook, and there are 3-5 good picks. Of course, everything is up for aggressive editing and expansion as my two collaborators and I pick at their content, but regardless, there is some imported content involved. Now you know!