Ah yes! I don’t really venture much into the postmodern // language // experimentalist poetry in that regard.
My poetics largely arrives from the common experience of being in arts organizing and simply speaking with people passionate about Something better for this world often.
Not to say one is better from another but that this is where my voice comes from.
Thank you for your kindness, I treasure you friend!
I certainly will - I’ve a few more publications this month that I look forward to sharing, and I found this to be an exceptionally useful exercise. I am also a fellow editor, thanks for your work! I know it’s often a thankless effort.
I love seeing drafts and hearing about process! I especially love the nitty gritty of article choices and punctuation decisions. I definitely agree in terms of final drafts. I'm always realizing new ways of seeing and revealing when I read through my old stuff that was supposedly "final".
I'm currently listening to the Carl Phillips interview on the Between the Covers podcast. And yes, he talks about returning to the same issues again and again in his work and watching how age transforms each iteration.
Ahaha that’s wonderful re: CP! Yes, I’m not a hater by any means, his lyric is so touching and evocative, but it is so incredible to have that conceit over almost an entire life of poetry!
But thank you for the kindness. Yes, it was quite helpful for me, too, honestly to apply some conscious method or reason to the choices and decisions made.
I really appreciate getting insight into your revision process! Makes me think more about different ways to approach my own process. And your poem really reflects the thoughtfulness with which you approached it. Really impactful, and definitely one I will be returning to. Thank you so much for this great read!
Thank you!! An odd task to try writing about a process that I don’t need to put into words, really ever, but instructional for me as much as I hope it is for anyone reading it
Thank you friend! Yeah, there are some poems that are vastly different from start to current iterations, but this one I felt pretty strongly and knew very suddenly what it wanted
Absolutely love seeing the first draft and your process! I do several drafts of written pieces and reading this made me feel a supreme respect for all my drafts. They are all unique and have their own personality. Thank you.
Thank you for your kindness, too! Yes — this was an odder poem to write about from a drafting perspective because it really was just first -> second -> published. Nevertheless the thinking, the intuition, the development are all such wonderful individualized components.
Looking forward to getting to know your work — I’m going through now!
I’ve come back to your comment here a few times and have to just confess how weepily happy it made me. To take part in blossoming the love of writing at any stage is such a gift.
That’s very kind, thank you!! Very odd to write about drafting and revision, but a very useful exercise. May you have full and healthy doors to enter and exit and open and close!
'I bleed myself pale.'
Such a powerful image!
When I used to write poems, my first drafts were even messier than yours—full of random thoughts.
Only after several rearrangements would they take a form that felt understandable to others.
Your poem holds so much weight.
When I read that you revised it so the reader would understand what you meant, I instantly thought about the Death of the Author theory.
Ah yes! I don’t really venture much into the postmodern // language // experimentalist poetry in that regard.
My poetics largely arrives from the common experience of being in arts organizing and simply speaking with people passionate about Something better for this world often.
Not to say one is better from another but that this is where my voice comes from.
Thank you for your kindness and attention!
a striking poem. takes the reader along for a spin.
keep the revision discussions coming! as a poet and editor, I adore a window into the making of a finished poem. x
Thank you for your kindness, I treasure you friend!
I certainly will - I’ve a few more publications this month that I look forward to sharing, and I found this to be an exceptionally useful exercise. I am also a fellow editor, thanks for your work! I know it’s often a thankless effort.
I love seeing drafts and hearing about process! I especially love the nitty gritty of article choices and punctuation decisions. I definitely agree in terms of final drafts. I'm always realizing new ways of seeing and revealing when I read through my old stuff that was supposedly "final".
I'm currently listening to the Carl Phillips interview on the Between the Covers podcast. And yes, he talks about returning to the same issues again and again in his work and watching how age transforms each iteration.
Ahaha that’s wonderful re: CP! Yes, I’m not a hater by any means, his lyric is so touching and evocative, but it is so incredible to have that conceit over almost an entire life of poetry!
But thank you for the kindness. Yes, it was quite helpful for me, too, honestly to apply some conscious method or reason to the choices and decisions made.
I really appreciate getting insight into your revision process! Makes me think more about different ways to approach my own process. And your poem really reflects the thoughtfulness with which you approached it. Really impactful, and definitely one I will be returning to. Thank you so much for this great read!
Thank you!! An odd task to try writing about a process that I don’t need to put into words, really ever, but instructional for me as much as I hope it is for anyone reading it
This is very interesting, thank you for sharing! I love the initial and the final versions—amazing how a few lines can add such a depth of meaning.
Thank you friend! Yeah, there are some poems that are vastly different from start to current iterations, but this one I felt pretty strongly and knew very suddenly what it wanted
Absolutely love seeing the first draft and your process! I do several drafts of written pieces and reading this made me feel a supreme respect for all my drafts. They are all unique and have their own personality. Thank you.
Thank you for your kindness, too! Yes — this was an odder poem to write about from a drafting perspective because it really was just first -> second -> published. Nevertheless the thinking, the intuition, the development are all such wonderful individualized components.
Looking forward to getting to know your work — I’m going through now!
You somehow made me love writing even more than I already do! I hope you find some current/future works of mine equally moving.
I’ve come back to your comment here a few times and have to just confess how weepily happy it made me. To take part in blossoming the love of writing at any stage is such a gift.
That’s very kind, thank you!! Very odd to write about drafting and revision, but a very useful exercise. May you have full and healthy doors to enter and exit and open and close!