Capturing the glimpse: revelations on creative manoeuvres

Creativity involves revelation: a moment of recognition, a coming into knowledge. These moments take many forms, and are inherently individualistic. They contain shifts in perspective, and provide a turning point in the creative process. The authors of this paper access physical landscapes to precipitate these moments. Our creative manoeuvres are located in what for us are sites of longing and belonging. The landscapes are geographically isolated places; deserts and the bush, in largely ignored country. What eventuates from these moments are what we’re referring to as glimpses, an awakening of the senses and a growing appreciation of awareness: the way afternoon light filters through trees, the silence at the edge of the desert. Many poets capture these glimpses, hold onto them to savour the physical sense of belonging they create, then try to evoke them in words. It is in the evocation of this glimpse in words that there arises a feeling of absence, and the memory of the glimpse can inspire a sense of what Arnold Zable (2008) referred to when he explored nostalgia back to its Greek origins as being both nostos (the return) and algos (pain). In this paper and presentation, we will explore these themes in relation to our poetry, providing insight into the process and practice of capturing the glimpse