honey and sting

This is my response to being asked that question in an email.

"I never begin writing with the intention of healing something -- I find that wanting that consciously (for me) makes the endeavor too much in the conscious realm, and so, ultimately, limited by what my conscious mind can figure out. Rather, I listen for whatever is prompting me to speak its voice. Just a few days ago I wrote a poem that ended up having a very bitter, cynical tone in response to loss and lost chances. I like the poem, but was bemused by how the voice of that poem is *not mine*. How I don't actually feel that way about loss -- I feel very hopeful, in fact, about what there is to be learned when things don't turn out the way we expect. But the voice of that poem is powerful in its bitterness, and who am I to judge that it does or doesn't need to be heard?

"In the process of being true to that, whatever 'that' is, I do find healing. It's mysterious, surprising, wonderful."

So, how is it for you, as a writer? How do you host the voices that are not, strictly speaking, your own, and what does it do for you to do so?