Discovering a new poet

Discovering a new poet is such a powerful thing. I've just spent the last hour (apparently the hour I gained today) researching this man Daniel Beaty who I happened to find on youtube. Wow. He's amazing.

I've been writing poetry a bit lately. Well, working on one poem. It's my first ever, and it's really hard. I've re-written it a dozen times, and think about new ways to phrase things while I'm waiting tables or driving in my car. I don't know if I'll ever show anyone, but right now I'm not satisfied at all with it and have pretty much started over from scratch. I've never taken a creative writing class, never read a book about writing poetry, and maybe I should start because then maybe I wouldn't feel so frustrated. I remember Suzanne Vega once said that, to her, metaphor is for when the literal doesn't tell enough. For me, I'm worrying that my metaphors are just obscuring the truth, and I don't want them to. To write a metaphor that is there not to obscure but to elucidate... that's a challenge.

Anyhow, Daniel Beaty is pretty fucking awesome. I wonder if he's published anything. Back to the Internet... but watch this first. Wow. wow.