I'm reading The Selected Poems of Donald Hall. The book ends with Hall delivering a very interesting "postscriptum" about his life as a poet, how the experiences in his life changed what and how he wrote, etc. The postscriptum ends with this paragraph, which I think is not only worthy of reflection for poets, but writers of all sorts, pastors, creatives, artists, thinkers, and, well, most anyone. Apply these observations to your life and family and work...
People have long assumed that poets flourish when they are young, but for most poets their best work comes in middle life. Wallace Stevens said, "Some of one's early things give one the creeps." A friend insists that no one should publish a poem written after eighty (Note: Hall is over 80). I hope I wrote good things, young and old, but my best work came in my early sixties. Over the years I felt my poems gradually diminish. I lost my powers as everyone does. It was frustrating at first, but finally I accepted the inevitable. How could I complain, after seventy years of ambition and pleasure? Happily I am able to write prose.
