where the poem comes from

[revolutionR]

the poem always comes from the poem
it does not come from the sowing machine
or the typewriter, the poem does not
come from the typewriter

if you look at the typewriter and watch it
typing out the words, you might think
look that machine is making the poem
but there is some one hitting the keys
on that machine

so it must be the one hitting the keys
or using one of those sticks that hold ink
so we believe the poem comes from the poet

I have been at this poet thing for awhile now
and I have arrived at a place where I no longer
believe my words come from me. i now believe
that the words are only filtered through
my experience,

but what is my experience, which is what a poet
suffers much for, wandering in ancient alleys
looking for arcane knowledge, in all the wrong
places, spending days in libraries haunting
the shelves, reading the most obscure books
finding poets whose forgotten words
linger on old pages turning under
the whirling lights

yes, my experience was a brief moment
in a used book store, when I discovered
a poem in a crusty moldy book
that I wrote in a past life
for one brief moment
I saw myself in the poem

[theirishsea]

I like the first couple of stanzas for denying the machines credit---poets aren't machines. What you say is interesting. And this is a really nice ending to the poem:

yes, my experience was a brief moment
in a used book store, when I discovered
a poem in a crusty moldy book
that I wrote in a past life
for one brief moment
I saw myself in the poem

Where do the words come from. Our subconscious? Our Reading? Our mixed up minds that churn like a cement mixer the language we hear and read.

Enjoyed----incidentally haven't put much on that critic's site. I do read some of the work posted every once in awhile but I don't want to get entangled with all that negativism. Life's too short.