'He acquires strength as he goes.'

'When we talk to a friend we do not constantly confess and plumb the depths of our soul; for to do so is to threaten, by excessive self-concern, the tacit equilibrium that friendship assumes and needs. Rather we talk about our hopes and fears, what has happened to us, what we have seen, heard, or read that has interested us, how we assess our own actions and those of others.'

No - not yet.

'A third possibility would be as a deserter.'

It hadn't yet occurred to me to, you know, look up Kilronan on a map or whatever.

'To be sure, I can't say whether things will be better, once they are different; but this much I can say, they have to be different if they are to be good.'

'the meetings / were boring'

Given that he sets himself up for it, I don't think I earned the right to say that Creeley 'subverts' his technique of selective emphasis.

(I have in mind both Sinker - 'use other words, please', and Kogan.)

'... now I was alone, sick with some unknown affliction; my private life was in a mess, and I was without a defense. I often wished I had never written that fucking book.'