The Art of Revising Poetry: 21 U.S. Poets on their Drafts, Craft, and Process

by Charles Finn (editor), Kim Stafford (Editor)

Using side-by-side pairings of first drafts and final versions, including full-page reproductions from the poets' personal notebooks, as well as an insightful essay on each poem's journey from start to finish, The Art of Revising Poetry tracks the creative process of twenty-one of the United States' most influential poets as they struggle over a single word, line break, or thought. This behind-the-scenes look into the creative minds of working poets, including African American, Latino, Asian American, and Native poets from across the US, is an essential resource for students practicing poetry, and for instructors looking to enliven the classroom with real world examples. Students learn first-hand from the deft revisions working poets make, while poetry teachers can show in detail how experienced poets self-edit, tinker, cut, rearrange, and craft a poem. The Art of Revising Poetry is a must-have for aspiring poets and poetry teachers at all levels.

Genres: Poetry, Writing, Nonfiction

141 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 18, 2023

Reviews

[Jack Malik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worthwhile book to read.

I was expecting something like “On Revision” by William Germano but for poetry instead of thesis.

Nonetheless, there are a few gems. Definitely one needs to revisit often and take one’s sweet time to delve into each poems, drafts, crafts and process.

This book also pretty much reminded me of “Into English: Poems, Translation, Commentaries” by Martha Collins.

[Reza Shirazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved to enter each poets revision process- each one different but revelatory about the crucible of reshaping words into their final fine form.

[Alarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m going to give this book the five stars it deserves for helpful writing techniques despite the fact it deserves low marks for format, typography, and legibility (I’ll explain that after the good stuff). In February, I attended a massive, national writing conference (AWP) for the first time because it was conveniently held in Kansas City, Missouri. They had a generous offering of workshops running at the same time, and I signed up for two about revision, because I’m fascinated to hear other writers talk about their process.

My favorite session of the three-day conference featured three poets from this book: Tami Haaland, Abayomi Animashaun, and Beth Piatote. (You can see why I asked them to print their names in a notebook for me, like my name doesn’t baffle people enough.) My main takeaway was that poets share a similar way of seeing and doing despite divergent backgrounds and ethnicities. There were four similarities in how we work that impressed me most. The first two are about process. The last two are about the mystical question of where inspiration comes from. Granted inspiration needs to happen first in the writing process.

(1) Those on the panel all wrote their first drafts in longhand until, in some cases (I’m worse than they are at this), they scribble over so much of the first texts that they can barely read their own writing. (I know that 100% of poets don’t write drafts by hand, but it must be close to that. Maybe that will change as schools stop teaching cursive.)

Each poet held up a messy first draft. It doesn’t matter if you can’t read the handwritten draft. It’s mainly for your entertainment. Flip the page in the book and you’ll see both the first and final drafts type set.

(2) The second point we were united on was leaving the poem alone for a while. Give the poem and your mind a few hours or days to rest (depending on how rushed a deadline you have). Then repeat the process over and over until the poem tells you it’s ready to meet the world.

(3) Abayomi Animashaun from Lagos, Nigeria is now an academic at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He was the first in the workshop to amuse and delight me with his explanation for why many poets are up late. He says it’s okay if you call them muses, but his belief is that angels stand outside the gates of heaven, proclaiming the secrets of the universe precisely from 3:00 a.m.-6:00 a.m. We must show up to hear them. If we miss the opportunity, we need to come back another night to gather their wisdom. He didn’t explain how this works for different time zones, but angels never tell us everything. (On a personal note, my next door neighbor has often commented on seeing me on my computer at these crazy hours.)

(4) Beth Piatote, a member of the Nez Perce tribe, finds dreams the richest source of inspiration. This is good news for those who don’t want to stay awake listening for the messages from the angels. Again this tip made me feel tied into the family of creative minds. Though my Cherokee great-great…grandmother has almost slipped out of my DNA, my mother and her mother passed on their crazy, scary, ridiculous or sometimes clairvoyant dreams to me. I’ve tried very hard to ignore them, but will gladly use a good idea for a poem no matter where it comes from.

I was delighted even more to find that Naomi Shihab Nye and Jane Hirshfield had chapters in this book. I’d taken writing workshops from both of them (maybe 15-20 years ago), and they were by far my two favorite workshop leaders.

I so wanted to read this book that I rushed up to the coordinator and asked if I could buy one. He said all the books were sold upstairs in the Book Hall, which felt like it was miles away. (I generally get lost and meander in the wrong direction at huge venues.) When I arrived, they said someone had just grabbed THE LAST copy. They gave me a flier with a discount code to order it. In other words, I didn’t get to open and inspect the book. This may have been a blessing in disguise, because I’m very glad I did read it, even though it was a design mess. The back cover is a mottled black background of black on black handwriting with tiny orange type for the blurbs. (I have impaired vision plus old eyes.) Inside, the type was at least black on white, but the margins were too small. When too many words march across a line, it’s easy to lose our place or skip to another line. If they’d bumped up the type a few points higher, it would have helped. I needed to use a magnifier. The content was inspiring, but the reading was so tiring that I only read one or two of the authors’ sections each night.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally! I was in the middle of teaching a workshop on revision when this was published. I downloaded the Kindle version and started reading and was so impressed, I almost immediately started suggesting it to my students. Each poet shows their first and final drafts of a poem followed by an essay discussing their revision process and the rational behind their choices. The collection is like the proverbial group of blind people trying to describe an elephant when it comes to the revision process. That is, each poet discusses what revision means to them and their approach to the process. During these discussions, they cover a wide range of different areas or "opportunities" for revision: "title, first line, lines, line breaks, rhythm, stanzas, words, word field, form/style/persona, the turn, last line, silence." Additionally, many of the poets share different questions they bring to the poem and revision process. Overall, it's an invaluable resource for new and experienced poets alike that models different ways of thinking about a poem and poetry in general. My one complaint with the printed edition is about the choice of layout for the essays. I understand the need for wider margins to show the artwork before the essays, but font size and lineation is quite cramped hindering the readability of the essays themselves. But I love the inclusion of the photos of the poem drafts. This really is worth it and will be reread and reread!

[mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually really cool and interesting, idk if that is like wack of me to admit. Terry Tempest Williams’ chapter irrationally infuriated me and I strongly feel hers should NOT have been included and it also deterred me from ever reading anything else by her oops lol but other than that this was super insightful.

[Christina Vourcos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read for poets!

There are not many writing books that focus on revision specifically, especially poetry writing books. It is interesting to see the different processes and perspectives on revision. I recommend writers to read this book.

[Elissa Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

First draft vs final draft of 21 poems, with discussion from the poet. Fine if you need reassurance that it’s ok for your poetry to start off as crap, but otherwise mostly a flow of babble about why particular words and phrases changed. Some interest overall, but not fully engaging.