The good poet always surmounts circumstances, both the circumstances of his or her life and the initial circumstances of his or her poem. This is why mere competence is the enemy of good poetry. Every good poem is evidence of a step taken into the unknown or the vaguely known, from which one comes back with palpable approximations. Words for. Much apprenticeship and practice are needed to get to the point where such a step can be taken (Keats and Rimbaud notwithstanding). The act of getting there can’t be taught, nor can it be willed.
-Stephen Dunn, Walking Light