#peter twal

My favorite poems are the ones that make me feel alive. I latch onto them like a dead battery does to a charged one, waiting for the jolt, you know?

darkness inhales our dim

Too easily, my obsessions shift from what I’m writing about to what I’ve written. I’ll cling to a draft and need weeks away from it before I’m ready to revise.

Daily, I jot down random lines, images, sounds, bits of conversations or even words that catch my attention until my 'bank' is full. Then, I sit down to write. Dr. Frankenstein and what not. Take a bunch of dead and make something hideous or lovely. Bring the poem to life.

Now, when I sit down to write, it feels more like I am sitting down with an old friend than working towards some sort of goal–a friend you sometimes want to strangle but, like, one you will always adore.

In truth, engineering and poetry are quite similar. It’s just invention & iteration. Creation & cultivation. Everything we build can be improved upon which is, like, THE most thrilling curse.

I try to remember in all that I do–poetry included–that I am a product of the generosity of other hearts, and it’s important for me to reciprocate the love however I can.