Rumination

I work on poetry rather than narrative because I like to put my ideas together myself by reading short texts, ruminating on them, carrying them around with me in my memory, and putting them together with other short texts and ideas of my own. When you analyze a novel, you tend to use the structure of the narrative itself to put together your ideas. Even good critics who would never resort to plot summary will often use the plot of a novel to structure their own analysis. You notice this with students who don't know how to write a paper about poetry. They can feel totally lost without a plot and some characters to discuss.

I like imposing my own narrative.