POETRY REVISION 2
In The Poet’s Companion, reread “The Energy of Revision,” 186-192. Also review
“About Revisions” by poet & teacher Molly Tenenbaum.
Identify about 4-5 poems you’ve written in the last six months (in this class or
previously) that you care enough about to revise seriously. Consider working with a
series of poem that have a connection in the subject matter – maybe a subtle connection.
Try various “takes.” Consider:
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Turn a free-verse poem into a structured poem.
Break up a structured poem into free verse.
Turn a poem into a prose poem.
Radically change the lineation of the poem.
Remove every cliché and everything boring.
Do not use the verb “to be.”
Cut up: print out the work, cut it up with scissors, and re-assemble. Leave some
things out. Retype the work, adjusting as necessary for syntax but leaving some of
the rough places rough.
Change a first-person poem into third person.
Take yourself out of the poem entirely.
Say much more and fill in the blanks.
Take out the connections and let the poem be mysterious.
Play with the sound of the words. What if the music is the main thing?
Take a long poem or group of poems, and rework them as a linked series. Add
new material if it seems appropriate.
See additional revision strategies link in the Week 11 folder (About Revision,
Molly Tenenbaum).
Bear in mind that you can do more than one of these operations at the same time. So, you
might try: turn it into a cut-up and remove the “I.” Use a formal structure and let the
sound be the main consideration. Add a lot of new details and also remove every cliché
and everything boring. Address mechanical errors, funky sentences, meter schemes that
fall apart. The possibilities are vast.
Try 2-3 major revisions of each poem – this is about experimenting.
Hand in your Revised Series of 4-5 poems – fifty lines or more of radically revised
material. Let this be a different set of poems than your week 7 revision; a new series. No
need to submit the originals – let the set you submit stand on its own; your strongest short
collection. (This might turn out to be something you’d like to take out to an open mic, or
submit for publication.)
Submit by Monday, March 19. This is the last day of the quarter. The folder will close
sometime on Tuesday, so get your work in on time.