During my years studying literature at the university I was introduced to the poem One Train May Hide Another by the poet Kenneth Koch. I read a lot of poetry at that time, so I’m not sure I recognized it more than any other poem. Over the years though, the underlying thought or insight of that poem has become a gem that I keep in my pocket.

The idea that everywhere in life our view might be blocked, that we’re at a given moment are not seeing the full perspective, the full opportunity we are given – and that new events/dangers/possibilities might be just around the corner. Well, it can seem like a trivial thought. Yet in his poem Kenneth Koch makes it obvious how profound it actually is.

So the poem has remained with me.

I try to remind myself of this in my songwriting too. If I stay forever working on one song, there will be other songs that won’t be written. As someone said, art is never finished only abandoned.