Edit the F**k Out of a Poem

This workshop is for anyone with:

• A plethora of unfinished poems burning a hole in their notebook
• An anxious attachment to their unfinished poems
• An idea of what you want your poem to be but the poem is resisting being written

If you’re anything like me, you have notebooks full of first drafts and odd scraps of lines saved in your notes app. BUT rather than working on—and finishing—what you’ve already got, you keep on generating new ideas for poems you want to write.

In this session, we will work through the different ways you can move out of a first draft, towards a polished final poem (if there is such a thing).

Over the years I have developed different techniques and journaling prompts to help me get closer to what the poem is trying to communicate. We will explore some of these methods throughout the workshop, generating new writing as well as scrapping what isn’t working.

These tactics include:

• asking the elusive draft to show its true meaning
• writing into emergent themes
• killing your darlings
• re-ordering what you've got
• playing with form

By the end of this session you will have learned your draft poem’s love language and will be on your way to developing a secure attachment to your drive of unfinished writing.

Please come to the session with a draft poem you want to work on.