Creative Writing Journal #12

David Colon

Creative Writing

Professor Miller

4/2/18

One of the things that I loved occurs on page 187: “True revision is just that: a re-visioning of the poem’s potential and the strategies it has used so far” (187). In any form of creative writing, not just poetry, revision is the process of building upon pre-existing work. A first draft may be something terrible, something that you absolutely hate. But in that first draft, there may exist a line, a sentence, or a stanza that you absolutely love. You can build upon that thing that you love, you can develop that aspect into a beautiful poem. And that’s exactly what the revision process is: turn something you dislike, into something that resonates, something that makes an impact.

Another aspect that I liked about this chapter was how the author described how many revisions was enough. The author states “A poem is like a child; at some point we have to let it go and trust that it will make its own way in the world” (188). A poem may never be truly finished as one may find new areas to revise. At some point, you just have to trust yourself and your revisions to submit your poem. People may like your work, or people may absolutely dislike it, but that’s the essence of art. One should revise I think, until meaning is achieved in the way the author wishes; the author should be able to describe what he or she feels in a way that elicits an emotional catharsis. Although the author mentions various revision strategies, I believe that one shouldn’t necessarily follow a set amount of cut-off points to revision. I believe that one should revise until they feel as if their work is finished, or until the author begins to add words and phrases that the author had previously removed. When one starts to over contemplate and overcomplicate one’s work, that should be the cutoff point for revision.