Ted Hughes on where his poems originate

'Well, I have a sort of notion. Just the tail end of an idea, usually just the thread of an idea. If I can feel behind that a sort of waiting momentum, a sense of some charge there to tap, then I just plunge in. What usually happens then—inevitably I would say—is that I go off in some wholly different direction. The thread end of an idea burns away and I’m pulled in—on the momentum of whatever was there waiting. Then that feeling opens up other energies, all the possibilities in my head, I suppose. That’s the pleasure—never quite knowing what’s there, being surprised. Once I get onto something I usually finish it. In a way it goes on finishing itself while I attend to its needs. It might be days, months. Later, often enough, I see exactly what it needs to be and I finish it in moments, usually by getting rid of things.'

Interesting. A thread of an idea with a notion of a momentum waiting behind it ( a thought that this idea has legs and a thought that I know where it might go!), then grabbing a pen and going for it - almost like focused free writing. Then during the process of focused free writing letting it go into different areas and being interested in those areas. If the original idea 'burns away' its not a problem there is a new momentum, the real momentum that has been hiding, takes over. Then new energies new possibilities - the original thought long extinguished now like a fire lighter in the heart of a raging bonfire. Then being surprised by the outcome but not the sense of surprise. As time goes by it helps in the finishing.