How to write good poetry

writing good poetry
is eruption of great
sexual energy
of mind and body.


it is like kissing
with tongue and teeth
till losing air, till bleeding
like singing from grief
like crying from supreme happiness

it is like a mad dog that bites you
at any time of the day and the night
when you're alone and intoxicated
alone and angry
alone and broken
when you do not have anything else


addiction and dizziness it is
disease incurable
state of trance
when you move along the edge
painfully happy


it is a sonata for violin and harpsichord by Bach
under the arch of the summer sky
when two clouds collide
and the music shines and bangs
and in the distance -
seven funeral bells


and it isn’t writing poems
but life -
something more than words, rhymes and metaphors
more than a wet dream and satisfaction
it is a gentle lover
that never leaves you
slow coming madness from loneliness
from hunger and thirst
one hundred percent love for yourself
being ready to be rejected
to be sent to Hell
with non-recognition
and oblivion


writing good poetry
is almost impossible
after Tsvetaeva Rilke Cavafy Elliott
Yates Rimbaud and Bukowski
but it is not useless to try
to throw yourself on the sheet
with all your passion
wild and strong

and while people at midnight
howl, groan, and weep between the sheets
you melt
no lover
no hope -
this is how you write good poetry

if you can’t do it
it will be no great loss.


ILEANA STOYANOVA, 2009  My book "Love Song"