Paul Ilechko:

I am very much a process-based writer, and while I do sometimes start writing a piece with a theme or some specific language already in mind, I mostly use my process (which makes use of found materials) to drive the arc of the work in unexpected directions. One method that I frequently use is to start with a book, choose a poem/page at random, and write whatever comes to mind based on the first line. This would typically not use the actual words that are on the page, more the feelings and ideas and come to mind. I try to be as open as possible during the writing activity.

Once I am done, I move to the next page, and this time write whatever is triggered by the second line of that piece, and then continue to repeat this process. What happens as I write is that a tension is created between what internally I think I am trying to write, what might be nagging in my mind and wanting to come out, and what I am forced to incorporate by the process. I continue this until my writing comes to a logical end point.

Next, I will take what so far is a prose paragraph, and work on refining it and turning it into a poem. This will involve all the usual “craft” decisions concerning language, delineation, etc. Whether I keep it in the “prose poem” format or use lines and stanzas is very much a “feel” decision as to what seems to work for the piece.

In the case of “there are birds…”, I had been reading an article on cosmology, and this was a trigger for the initial lines, and from that point other ideas just began to flow.