I listened today to a radio programme about the poet Robert Frost. He said that the best place to start when writing a poem was with a mood or feeling, the more vague the better. So his poem about a snowy winter’s night did not start from thinking about that relatively concrete situation, but from a mood. Isn’t this interesting? Something vague but emotional allows you to go in search and narrow down. It is just a starting point that takes you who knows where.
On the 13th of last month, our daughter Matilda was born. At this stage, most of her small number of waking hours are spent crying (for hunger and the discomfort of trapped wind mostly, I think). It brings home how this life really is a vale of tears.
Matthew Herring's Blog 