revisting themes...

[Kevin]

Does not the Japanese 'potter' throw his same/ similar ware over and over? Is not the 'basket of fruit' painted in multiple perspective by the selfsame painter? Did not Michelangelo work the same ceiling chapel for years on end?
So why do I feel that if my similar 'motifs', my themes, are reoccurring, I am somehow...lesser, that I am somehow simply rehashing, or being unoriginal?

What's wrong with doing it over until I get it right, and why not multiple perspectives of the same 'scene' or idea, or one that is very similar? Are not poems merely an essay, as in an attempt, at something perhaps not fully realized? And these prior attempts, are they unworthy, or merely from a different perspective, an earlier one. I look at cinema and I see directors revisiting; Eastwood had his High Plains Drifter and much later (19 years), Unforgiven. Are not both of these complete and worthy works of art? The musician uses the same instrument in the same genre, but is it tedium?

I notice that I visit the same themes often. They are what inspires and... I think I'm getting okay with it.

[Lewdog]

I'm waiting for you to write your first poem about being an underground cross dresser. You need to open up more and explore new avenues.

I keep writing about lost love, you'd think I might have had my heart broken once or twice.

[Gumby]

I think we all do that.

[escorial]

under ground cross dresser...Gumby..?...any pics!

[Gumby]

under ground cross dresser...Gumby..?...any pics!

That depend$$.

[escorial]

ha

[RollTheBones109]

I think you'd have a hard time finding prolific poets (from amateurs to poet laureates) that did not revisit similar themes. I think the large majority of Yeats' poems could be lumped into one of three themes: Ireland, love, and the passage of time.

I don't often find myself inspired by my grocery list, but I am sparked time and time again by a sunset or the city of Ottawa at night in the snow. Naturally, these motifs tend to come up more often than does the brand of bread I bought, even if one has as much poetic merit as the other.