Anon from the comment box asked me how long it takes me to write a poem, and if I could speak a bit about my process. Thanks, Anon, for caring, and I will oblige because I like to talk about myself.

I typically write a poem in two stages. The first stage being the preparation of the dough. I'll have an idea--maybe a concept, a few words, a line, a last line, or an opening line--and I'll knead that idea, roll it, etc, do all the things you need to do it before sticking it in the oven. Sometimes these ideas will sit on the shelf for quite a while. I have an entire MS Word pages with a mess of undeveloped ideas. When I have an idea, I'll just stick it on this page and let it sit there for a while and I'll come back to the page and starting writing on it. If I have something I like, I'll cut and paste it from that page. It usually ends up in a completely different place than the idea or line I started with. Here's a short little excerpt of yet unused words from my mess of an idea page:

I finally found my twin in a coconut palm

Having to spend one night with Wong is bad
But try floating in the open sea.

You have an eyelash in your eye. Hold still.

When I touched her navel I could make out my spot in the boat. Just under her ribs were some trees in the wind.

Who’s your favorite president? Mine’s Lincoln

I was mostly cobwebs.

You dig a grave below the window. I’ll push the corpse out.

Let’s watch the DVD
that came with your hair-
clipper set.

You tell me to chill and I do,
But only about 4/9 of the way.

There are about 25 pages of this. It takes me as little as 30 minutes to as much as 2 hours I'd say to get a good first draft pounded out. These are very fun moments for me. Time speeds way up. Once I feel good about it, I'll get super excited and read it about 20 times to myself. Then I'll stick it in the oven to bake over night.

Stage 2 is me thinking the poem needs a little work. A day removed, I'll be able to point out weak spots. Things that don't belong, or things that should be added. This often takes as long as stage 1.