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In the discipline of creativity, practice is important. It has been reported in the biographies of Nikola Tesla, the great electrical inventor/pioneer, that his ability to visualize was very highly developed. Blueprints were created after the fact so that fabricators could build the invention he had visaged. It was seldom necessary for him to have to revise their design. And, incredibly, they say he would "test run" electric motors and tune-in periodically to see how they were holding up! And why not? How many times have you revisited your work during the course of a day spent working on something else? I think we all do this at some level. So it was with Albert Einstein, and Leonardo Da Vinci, and of course many others with a creative bent including entrepreneurs who cast visions for business enterprises. So too, the humble poet in us.

Re-framing The Data Bank

When I am leafing and locate a word, I am reminded of an experience. As adults we have accumulated a vast reservoir of experiences. We do not have to invent that "data base"; it is already there, we just need to access it at will. I replay things in my mind's eye, I dwell on them a while, and reconsider their meaning. I try to get at the feelings generated and re-frames them as a basis for finding new ways to express them. Maybe then they have the substance of a poem, maybe not, but, in the process, if interesting lines enter my mind, I copy them down. Later I usually find I can associate these lines together and they will suggest the core of a poem!

The Poet Wrings Order From Chaos

Now that process leads you to great diversity of ideas. You don't know what the outcome will be going in, but you can be sure it will take form, and when it does, it will begin to speak back to you at some not too remote point in time. That, by the way, is today's definition of "Chaos: a state of flux whose outcome is not predictable in advance, but which will ultimately take a pattern that is recognizable." So then, the finished poem, product, whatever, is recognizable. Yes it will take on a unique character but still be recognizable. A hybrid perhaps, or some other transformation into something that is somehow familiar to us. It is important to note here that, knowing this, we should not fear that the emerging, uncomplete images and word won't fit, that they will never be synthesized -- they will.

Disrobing The Creative Process

Another technique I use is one I invented and tested in a large scale formal experiment in a professional work force, involving over 400 persons. See referenced study at the end of this article. It involved the use of visual stimulation to "break loose" the subjects' internal associative abilities. When that happened, their associative capacities "snowballed" producing a much greater fluency of ideas (in a measured given time period). In my theory of creativity, which was an outgrowth of that study, I maintain that there are four major elements: 1. Imagery, 2. Analogy, 3. Association, and 4. Transformation. When we are being creative, say in writing a poem for example, we are using most, if not all of these processes. They can occur in any order. I might experience an image, followed by an association to something else, then I may transform that into a line of poetry. Or I might focus on a word or an object, get an image, find an analogy and express that. I try to be conscious of my thought processes so that I can retain some deliberate control over the outcome.

Starting Points

I don't always know the topic of my poem going in. When I do, I use the same processes, but it's easier because I have a starting focus. When I don't, I use my "mental web-crawler" as I have described and let it offer something up. When that happens, and this is important, I have to be civil to it, like I would be to a friend. After all, it's being offered-up by my inner friend, my unconscious mind. Only an ingrate would deride it or send it back. And, tell you what, when that happens, there's a tiff, and we don't talk again for some time. A kind of self-created "dry" period ensues! So be kind to your unconscious, and it will be generous to you.

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