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Transformation is a very important part of this. As I define "transformation," it means the deliberate alteration of a starting image or idea, wither to create something new, or to change a concept to, say, a line of a poem. This is a two-fold process. First comes "Divergence." I go for a range of diverse images, words, or lines. Second, I become selective (this is called, "Convergence") and I close-in to pick from among the alternates I have generated. In poetry, I think this is crucial because it translates directly into the exact words and lines of your poem. And this is where the matter comes to rest.

Use The Whole Brain

We all know this is make-or-break. So the skills of converging and diverging are quite different and equally necessary in professional life today. Generally, convergent thinking aims at narrowing down the options. It is thought to be resident to the left hemisphere of the brain. That part is analytical, and uses deductive thinking. In contrast, the right side of the brain is generative, good at speculating and offering up a multitude of ideas. I suppose it would be fair to say that th finest poets are whole-brained!

The Generator

You can see how the processes of imagery, association, analogy, and transformation intertwine here. When you want to transform poetic expression, transformation allows you to generate alternate, but roughly equivalent ideas. One way to do this is to come up with analogies. Analogies are wonderful where you want to re-frame something to see it in a new light. Inventors often use analogies taken from nature to come up with new ideas and improvements. So do poets, all the time. Transformation allows us to wrest new ideas from many quarters of that disordered "universe" inside of us. It allows us to exaggerate and distort reality the way a comedian does. It allows us to combine and idea with another in a way it may never before have been done. We can also rearrange the elements of our thoughts like the furniture in our homes to give things a new look. I think poetry that re-frames an experience in a totally new perspective does readers a service when it gives them a key to extracting new meaning from life's experiences.

When poets succeed in doing that they are using all four work horses, whether they are aware of it or not; both sides of their brains are operating. If you stay mindful of these four work horses and learn to use them in your writing, I think you will improve the novelty and diversity of your work, and what more can a writer ask for?

References:

Article, "Imagery is Poetry" by Joe Lavigne, Arcanum Cafe, 1997
Study, The Effect Of An Experimental Training Program On The Creative Thinking Abilities Of Adults, by Charles Albano, 1987, University Microfilm International.
A collection of poems by Charles Albano about the creative process and the subject of management are located at the Adaptive Leadership Website. See the following: "Thinker's Block" | "Word Squeezing" | "concentration" | "Teaching Thinking"

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