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Creative Observations

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By Catharine L., Belmont, MA

A poem may come out

in any of three ways:

really good,

really bad,

or mediocre -

a blah-poem,

possibly like this one,

those poems that can take

a thousand revisions

and be neither helped

nor harmed.

Perhaps the ideas are

all right,

but the words, the medium -

they're no good.

They obstruct the meaning

instead of being doorway to it.

The really bad poems are

ejected into the circular file

as soon as the words

sludge onto the hateful page.

(Not that it's the paper's fault.)

But the really good poems

those are the rare gems, pure

sparkle, flowing fluidly from

inspiration to inspiration.

Heaven a breath away

and I hardly know what I'm doing...

I only know that I am a channel

and that everything sounds right the first time

nothing can improve

perfection.

This piece has also been published in Teen Ink's monthly magazine.

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Teen Ink is a national teen magazine, book and website featuring teen writing, information, art, photos, poetry, teen issues and more. All articles are written by teen authors who are students at schools. The monthly print magazine is appropriate for any teenager -- teenagers age 13 to 19 attending secondary school: junior high school, middle school and high school. This publication is used by professional people including English teachers, writing teachers, language arts instructors, journalism teachers, school newspaper advisors, librarians, guidance counselors, K-12 principals in addition to the PTA or PTO. Each issue of Teen Ink magazine contains a wide variety of student work: we publish nonfiction, fiction, poems, community service, sports, heroes, interviews, college essays, college reviews, book reviews, concert reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, video reviews, video game reviews, the environment, opinion, sports, pets, cars, automobiles, travel and culture, jobs and money, health issues, artwork, photographs, cartoons, short stories, essays, writing contests, a college directory and the website also has a bulletin board and resources for teens and educators. Subjects include racism, eating disorders, depression, death, suicide, family, relationships, jobs, grandparents, violence, the college process, college information, colleges, driving, self esteem, the arts, movies and more. Teen Ink is also a book series published by HCI Teens. Subjects covered in the book include Friends, Fitting In, Love, Challenges, Family, Heroes, Loss and Memories. Teen Ink was established in 1989 as The 21st Century magazine by The Young Authors Foundation, a nonprofit organization. More than 25,000 teens have been published in the magazine and its companion Poetry Journal. Teen Ink runs a London Summer Program for teenage writers.