Editing A Poem
Here are some ideas and techniques if you are stuck on rewriting a poem.
Remember that the whole point of editing is to edit through someone else’s eyes. You need to not be in love with the poem. Use Time-is-an-editor.
Also remember all-art-is-subjective, Each-poem-Is-New. Focus-on-Process-not-the-end-goal
- Read-Writing-Aloud to hear the sound of it.
- Where does the poem surprise you? Make these accidents intentional. Build up to them or go in different directions.
- What is the imagery doing? Is it coherent? Is it mostly Concrete-or-abstract? Are you following Show-Dont-Tell? Should you?
- Does the form reflect the content? Look at another Poetic-form to find one that might work. Can you build in rhyme or is the rhyme inappropriate?
- Look at line breaks. What are they doing? Are they intentional?
- Remove clichés (or deliberately Twist-a-Cliché)
- Remove joints of poem and common words.
- Keep a The-Spark-File
- Cut-the-Last-Lines
- Remember Time-is-an-editor
Transform the poem and create something new out of the ashes. ( [[ Transform-Existing-Work ]])
- Use a line as a new poem
- Create a negative-poem
- Combine three images from separate poems or separate sources.
- Condense to a single sentence
- Cut-Up-Technique - shred the poem
- n7
- Use Text-Manipulation-Tools to outsource the process to machines.
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