Recently, I had a desire–no, wait, craving–for imagism poetry.  If you are not familiar with this type of poetry, it is often characterized by its sparse language and direct treatment of the subject at hand.  Ezra Pound, Hilda Doolittle (H.D), and William Carlos Williams are best known for this type of work.  Google “The Red Wheelbarrow” for an example.

I have tried and tried to get this one poem published.  It is very much in the imagism vein, as it is very sparse and is centered on one object in detail to tell a story.  I keep plugging away at this poem, but it has yet to find a home, so I bought a book of collected poems of Ezra Pound.  I have just started it, but I can already tell that his early period work (pre-imagism) is not my favorite.  Still, I am enjoying the collection overall.  Hope to share some highlights here as I move along in the collection.

Anyone else ever get stuck on a work and try to remedy it (or gain some understanding about why you are stuck) by reading another writer’s works?  If so, share.