Signals to the inner world

The first step is the rhythmic measure, the second step is a set of preverbal visual images which move to the rhythmic measure, and the third step is embodying it in words—and I have learned as a discipline over the years to avoid writing until I have to…

[My notes] are all organized, but their only function is as mnemonic aids, like signals to open up the inner world. The inner world is too large to ever put down; it’s a sea, it’s an ocean; and guides and notes and things like that just help me—they’re like trail-markers. It’s like finding your way back to the beginning of the right path you were on before, then you can go into it again.

—Gary Snyder