"A poem may be indicted for weaknesses, without thereby yielding itself to correction: there may be flaws necessary for even the faltering accomplishment embodied in the poem. To avoid the flaws might make the poem miss its goal even further than it does now." --William Stafford (Italics mine.)
A note I journaled at an optometrist's waiting room:
"How you tell something is real: you look for flaws. Like this plant here. I know it's not real because every leaf is perfectly shaped, tapering to a precise point, green even on the undersides, no bumps, bug-nibbles or notches."
If your writing has flaws, that means it's real. Leave the flaws, go on and write the next thing.
This is so good.
ReplyDeleteI think we feel vulnerable in regards to flaws. But they can be beautiful too....in us as well as our writing. So maybe they aren't really "flaws" at all, rather part and parcel of true perfection.:)