One of my best forms of inspiration is art and literature from other people. When I read poetry and stories I gain insights into other ways of seeing the world. These new ideas and views percolate in my head for a while, and eventually I have a new thought or a mood of my own which must be transferred to paper. 

I will also occasionally be challenged by another author's technical form --the rhythm and sounds of a poem will beat in my mind for a few days until I just have to write something to it, or spin off on a similar technical challenge. A poem that I once read by Samuel R. Delany which had the end of each line rhyming with the beginning of the following line caused me to come up with my own scheme which can be seen in Every Restless Night: the end of each line sight rhymes with the beginning of the following line. 
 

The end line of the poem sight rhymes with the first line- never and every.

Another way to find inspiration is through dreams and meditation. Some of my best ideas have come to me in the morning, right as I wake up. For this reason I always keep paper and pen beside my bed (and in my pockets as well, during the day). Sometimes I have even woken up with a line or two of a future poem echoing from my dreams. 

I will also sit quietly from time to time, calm my thoughts, and let them take me where they will. The meditation method has good and bad sides associated with it. The poetry that has come from such dredging of my subconscious has sometimes become not very understandable by readers and not too explainable by myself, so it is the type of poetry I write for myself and only tentatively show to others. An advantage is that such poems have struck chords with other people, and from talking to the readers I discover new underlying meanings and themes, which -- even though they are my poems -- seem to be just as valid. Mandragora and The Raven were both written by my subconscious. Such poems seem to write themselves, and when they are finished I find them to be the hardest ones to revise. It's almost as if someone else has written the lines and I have no right to do more than transcribe.

A lot of my poetry is written in response to -- or as a record of -- personal events in my life. I find that traveling to new places, meeting and talking with a variety of people, and dabbling in new sports or hobbies are all very inspirational when it comes to writing. Some of my poems are written in the course of experiencing some other activity-- Cracked voice, for example, was almost entirely created and memorized while I was riding my motorcycle from Massachusetts to Maryland. 

Sometimes, when speaking, thinking, or writing, a phrase will stick out that I feel is so strong, or carries so much meaning or lyric sense, that it must be used in a poem. Then I will take the phrase and spin a poem around it, working it into the poem without (hopefully!) requiring the rest of the poem to rest solely on the inspirational phrase. 

This method can also backfire, as sometimes I end up with a poem that doesn't need the inspirational line to be there (the poem's context has fallen out of step with the phrase, perhaps), but out of some sort of loyalty I don't want to get rid of the line. This can detract from the overall poem and waste the strength of the inspirational phrase. A Demon's Sestina Of A Dying Man's Dream is a prime example of this. There were actually four inspirational phrases I attempted to work the poem around: "vespertine night", "jolting reflections of molotovs", "thigh-borne flower", and "his fingers have become the ribs of wings". I worked these phrases into a poem that is describing a man's hallucinations on his death-bed (his life is "passing quickly before his eyes", but I wanted to show the cliché without using it), and his feelings of freedom and wish-fulfillment as he dies. But these two stanzas weaken the poem somewhat: 
 

The word "vespertine" (meaning bat-like; or flowering or emerging at dusk) is redundant since "bat-like" has already been used and is enough of a description for the rest of the stanza. "Vespertine" makes most readers stumble. Likewise, "jolting reflections of molotovs flower" is just a bit too jolting for some readers, especially when combined with the next line, where the man's love interest is introduced for the first time. These two images are just too close together to keep the poem fluid. The molotovs should be removed someday; at the very least the woman should be sequestered to the following stanza, away from the explosions. "Thigh-borne flower" could be the weakest phrase of the stanza in which it resides.

In conclusion (and to escape the last paragraph), one way to break writer's block is to find inspiration -- through admiring and examining other artwork; listening to my dreams and daydreams; experiencing new people, adventures, and romance; and discovering inspirational phrases. All of these methods of finding inspiration have advantages and disadvantages, but they all get me started. By the time I am ready to attack with my pen, the stage is set: I have an idea, a phrase, or a form -- sometimes a combination of the three.