As a beginning poet, around age 15, I became extremely frustrated with my poetry and destroyed everything I had written. These are the poems I was able to resurrect, some within the last few weeks...
I know quite a lot of these poems and the really have triumphantly survived the test of time. I read 'Sharon' again just a while ago and I'm very glad you were able to rescue that one. I can hear Lord Byron in it and that's a big plus in my book, but I can also hear the English Poet Laureate, John Betjamin, an even bigger plus because he had a great ear for sound. Am I right in thinking that you read Benjamin at that age, even though it seems a bit unlikely?
I'm still reading through the poems. 'Righteous' is one I didn't know before. I really like that one
I'm glad you liked "Righteous" ... I believe it's a poem that came to me "whole" and has not been edited. Those are the really cool, mysterious ones.
I know quite a lot of these poems and the really have triumphantly survived the test of time. I read 'Sharon' again just a while ago and I'm very glad you were able to rescue that one. I can hear Lord Byron in it and that's a big plus in my book, but I can also hear the English Poet Laureate, John Betjamin, an even bigger plus because he had a great ear for sound. Am I right in thinking that you read Benjamin at that age, even though it seems a bit unlikely?
No, I didn't run into him in my teens. And by the time I read him, I was already a pretty prolific writer.