Thoughts On Editing.

Last night and today...I kept chipping away at a poem...otherwise known as...editing it. I had actually written it years ago...and it had stayed in the state it was first
written in. Editing...is very important for anything you write...even your e-mails...
or should I say...especially your e-mails. Without wanting to...you can end up saying
something harsh...if you "send" before editing. In writing lyrics for songs...your
edits...are obviously important. In a song...one heavy handed word...can spoil an
otherwise lyrical set of words. With poems...like the one I edited today...you can
be going along in your writing...with fine images...writing lean...and communicating
in that "other dimension"...that poems communicate in...at their best...then suddenly
hit...an obscure passage...or to use one of my favourite words...a "turgid" one.
When you return...even years later...to edit such a poem...one of the first things
you have to do is identify such a passage...and then remove it...or replace it with
something...that takes what you're saying forward...in a way...that helps the whole
poem. To be a good editor of your own work...you have to consciously put aside...a
school boyish notion that sometimes gets in the way of writing well...i.e..."I
wrote it...so it must be kept". A good editor...has to be tough enough to remove
anything dubious or obscure...or...streamline...what has been written...in a clumsy
way. With today's poem...one passage...was totally removed...and the ending sequence
was revised into becoming a smooth ending...instead of being one that was..."over
the top". Trying to get this in...before this day ends...may have endangered my
wearing my editor's hat...regardless...I'm now going to press..."Publish Post".
.........................Quester.