Please Stop Explaining: Poetry Revision 101

Don't speak

I know just what you're saying

So please stop explaining

Don't tell me cause it hurts

Don't speak

I know what you're thinking

I don't need your reasons

Don't tell me cause it hurts

—"Don't Speak," No Doubt



May is the perfect month to think about revision. If you wrote a bunch of poems for National Poetry Month in April, you now have a bunch of drafts and might be wondering where's a good place to start revising. I've got a great one for you: stop explaining.

It's...