Changing Seasons

As a big Fall enthusiast, I'm anxiously waiting for my birthday which, this year, is the first day of Fall or the Autumnal Equinox.  I've already started to enjoy posts on Facebook from some Halloween and Fall pages that I follow.  I've also been planning some Halloween things with my daughter already.

This desire for the new season has pushed me to work on editing my poems for my book of poetry project since my overall theme is nature and the seasons.  Also, I had so much fun playing with Haiku recently that I found myself re writing a longer poem as a simple Haiku.  I did this because the original poem was unfinished, I was still inspired by it, but I was stuck.

The poem began as an exercise in using descriptive language and words.  I wanted to convey the beauty of colors as they change from Summer green to Fall's reds/golds/rusts, etc.  My original was a complicated mess and, although I can still remember the exact tree that inspired it, I had lost my direction.  To move forward with the piece, I found myself focusing on the image in my memory.  I studied the shape and colors, which were in full transition, still displaying Summer while Fall was edging it's way in.

After about an hour of painful rewriting attempts, I used the "strikethrough" feature in Word and crossed out everything, leaving it on the page as a reminder of my failure, as well as a resource for words I still liked.  This is when I began reviewing my Haiku notes feeling that a u-turn was called for.

I stared at the formula, 5-7-5, total of 17 and typed "Summer."  I stared at that a while, then hit return twice and typed "Fall." I looked at that for a while then started to insert short phrases before and after these words until they formed something meaningful.

My next step was a bit more difficult, I started paring things down to match up with my Haiku formula, 5-7-5, total of 17.  I was actually starting to like this poem now.  Next I began changing out words to fit and then words that we more descriptive or telling.  Yes, I pulled out the old Thesaurus to find shorter or better words.  Finally, I had what I thought was my finished piece and read it for my daughter.  Her reaction was lukewarm.  "You've done better" she said.

So, I picked this up again today, two weeks later, and below is my final product.  I like it much better than all of it's previous incarnations.

Summer to Fall

September 8, 2017

Summers luscious greens

Answering Fall’s charming chill

Turn warm, red and gold.

The photo isn't an exact depiction of my original inspiration, however, it does give a sense of the color change that I inspired me in the first place.  I think I'm starting to get the hang of Haiku.  

Now that I've started, I have to keep the inspiration coming and work on more editing.  I don't think it's unreasonable to find new inspiration for a piece when you're editing.  Perhaps inspiration is a key ingredient in editing for me that I need to explore some more.  I'll share my results with you.  

Enjoy the new season and watch for more editing posts.  I hope you share your thoughts and/or poems with me in the comments.

Compiling a Book of Poems Post #2

Editing, editing, editing.  I've been editing poems for my book and going back over all my poems multiple times since my last post.  After I made a list of the poems I consider "Complete" I put them into categories to see what kind of material I had to work with.  From this exercise I determined that most of my "Completed" work had to do with the seasons or nature in some way.

This prompted me to look through all my work to see if I could find any other poems about nature or the seasons to bolster my book.  I added a number of unfinished poems to my list and brought my total to 63.  Of these poems, 30 are about nature or the seasons.  Most of these new poems need some editing or rewriting.  This is what I've been doing for the last week or more.

By the way, I'm by no means finished with this part of the process and am still determined to put a book together.  Now I'll be focusing on more poems with nature and the seasons as themes.  I'd like to have approximately 40 poems for this book.

In the process of editing and completing some of my poems, I've come up with some nice pieces and want to share some with you.

Autumn Gusts

Leaves dart across the ground

Like schoolboys chasing a ball

They flip and turn and spin

Like tumbling gymnasts.

Frantically, leaves fly

Like birds rising from a lake

Pushed by Autumn gusts

High into the air.

Color splashed branches dance feverishly

Like teens at a concert

Arms waving in the air

Moving in one rhythm.

I found myself practicing the use of metaphor and simile trying to get this one just right.  This next poem has a very different feel.  This rewrite about a heavy Spring snow is very different from my original, but I do like this version better.  

Spring Snow

Frozen crystals dance easily

Weightless

Swirling

In a dervish.

Thick, like fluff, they fall

Recklessly

Tossed

In a wind.

Landing, they join, cling in close

Layering

Combining

Like a mantle.

Heavy, pressing down, young limbs bend

Sagging

Droopy

Bowing down.

Brightened, the crystals sparkle in sunlight

Glimmering

Melting

Dripping down.

I started this post months ago and have sadly not worked on editing poems since that time.  Life derails me sometimes which is frustrating.  Many things are happening around here.  However, I have been inspired to write about the Sun and Moon today because of the "Great American Eclipse."  

Yes, the eclipse was almost complete for those of us in the greater Denver Metro area.  I'm going to be working on a few new pieces to add to my collection for this book.  I think they'll add something special.  

So, I'll leave this post for now on the editing theme and hope that you enjoy these two re writes.  I promise to have a few new pieces for you soon that highlight the celestial bodies involved in today's spectacle.  

Have a splendid day and keep writing!

Compiling a Book of Poems: Post #1

Almost since I started writing poems in 2010, I've wanted to put together a collection or book of my poems.  Of course, you have to have enough poems written to fill a book first.  It's taken me years, but I've got almost enough really good poems to create at least a collection.

Being a methodical person who doesn't enter into things like this lightly, I've begun to research the best way to put together a book of poems for publication, whether just for me or for sale.  Thus far, I've found some very good sources.  The links are at the bottom of this post.

One important question I think a poet must ask is whether you want to publish strictly for yourself or to sell to the public.  I believe this is important, because if you are merely putting a collection together for your own enjoyment, the guidelines are more lax.  You don't have to adhere to the conventions of publishing.


With that said, I've decided that my first endeavor will be strictly for myself because I would like to have more of my individual poems published before I try to make sales.  Furthermore, I will say that, even though I'm currently undertaking this task for my own enjoyment, I do not like reinventing the wheel.  I will, therefore, be attempting to put my collection/book together using the conventions that are expected for a published work.

Let's start at the beginning.  
Reviewing your poems is the first step.  All the sources I've read, see links below, have various strategies outlined for reviewing your work to determine what will go into your book.  Of all the varied suggestions, printing out all your poems is a good first step.  While many of us have our poems saved in an electronic document, there's nothing like pen and paper for editing, sorting and labeling.

So, I've printed all the poems I feel are ready to go into a book, or that I want to go into a book.  I have just over 70.

Editing:
This part is both hard and fun at the same time for me.  It's hard for me when the poem I need to edit is good as is, but I know it can be better.  In cases like this I will always preserve the original before editing a copy.  Sometimes, I end up with two poems when this happens.

Editing is fun for me because I like to look at something and try to make it better.  I recently took two of my formless poems and made them into palindromes or mirror poems.  These are poems that read the same forward and back.  When you read a mirror poem you get to the half-way point and the poem reads backwards to the first line.

Here's one that I just created by editing one of my poems:

Raindrop Patterns

October 12, 2010

By Kimberly L. McClune

Raindrop patterns

Random patterns

On the window

Pooling in the corners

Gathering on the sill

Small rivers creeping down my window

Gathering on the sill

Pooling in the corners

On the window

Random patterns

Raindrop patterns

To be honest, I'm still in the editing stage with my poems.  There are about 10 that I feel need to be gone over before I feel they're strong enough for publication or inclusion in a book or collection.  I may even try publishing a few of them individually before I finish this project.  

While I finish editing, you can take a look at the links below to read about putting together your own poetry book or collection.  These are the articles or sites I found to be the most helpful.

Next week I'll post on the next step, Sorting and Organizing Your Poems.  I'll also share another edited poem.

Enjoy the Spring for Summer is mere weeks away.

Leave me a comment so I know you were here.

Poets & Writers

https://www.pw.org/content/thinking_like_an_editor_how_to_order_your_poetry_manuscript_0

Long but thoughtful post. 

wikiHow

http://www.wikihow.com/Arrange-Your-Poems-for-a-Poetry-Collection

Writer’s Digest

http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/assembling-and-submitting-a-poetry-collection

Word Choice

When writing in any format or genre your choice of words is important.  This is likely quite obvious to most, but perhaps not to everyone.  In my experience, when editing or even writing the first draft of a poem, I choose words carefully.  Some of the things I consider are meaning, flow, sound, rhyme, rhythm, and sometimes even spelling.  

Each choice depends on what effect or meaning, images or thoughts are behind the work I’m creating.  For instance, in my poem “Smoke” I took quite a long time to decide the words to describe the smoke patterns and qualities.  

“Clinging to the air, fluctuating,

Gradient translucence shifts in silent grace.

Amorphous fog, ethereal silk

Drifts away then subtly coils and spins.”

The word ‘amorphous’ was selected because of its meaning, as well as its sound.  Likewise, the word ‘ethereal’ has a sort of fantasy quality to it (at least to me) and it was fitting for the images I was describing.  I chose silk because its movement as a fabric was mimicked by the movement of the smoke.

There are times when my vocabulary needs a boost while writing.  At these times I turn to a dictionary or thesaurus for ideas.  Keep in mind that too much reliance on these tools can be obvious in your writing.  If I get really stuck for words I like to write out a list of possible choices then insert them into my piece.  It’s like trying on clothes to see what fits and looks the best.

The most important part of word choice is that you find what works for you and for the piece you’re creating.  Having the words flow with your voice is crucial to success for your writing.  I have friends or my father read my works in progress.  They’ve always been able to tell if I had been through the thesaurus too heavily.  

Enjoy writing and playing around with words to complete your writing pieces.

Editing a Poem

As a girl, I loved reading poems, especially rhyming ones.  Back then, I didn’t realize that poems can be, and often are, edited to make them extra special.  In my youth, I had written a number of little poems, one about a leaf floating by my window and at least one about love.  I never edited them, I wrote them just as I thought them up. 

In 2010 I wrote a poem, and it was edited, a lot! 

It was August and, while driving to work, I was staring at the most beautiful configuration of clouds I thought I’d ever seen.  My first inclination was to hold that moment in time somehow to share it with others.  Not having a camera, and being in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I struggled to find a way to capture the image.  So, I started describing what I saw out loud to myself.  I broke down my thoughts over and over again until I had a piece that was very short and made me remember the exact scene I had witnessed in the heavens.

Once I reached my office, I rushed to write down the short verse.  It was never edited again.  At the time it was exactly what I wanted, and still is.  Here is that quaint, descriptive little poem: 

Sunrise

August 2010

Radiant tiers brushed with light

Fanned out across the sky

Gracefully reach for the earth

The way I edited this piece was all verbal.  I kept searching for the most descriptive words I could to paint this picture in my mind’s eye.  This is essential for a good poem; the reader should be able to imagine the same feelings or vision as the writer.  Some poetry is written for the writer alone, some to invoke feelings, others to tell stories, and some to bring an image to the mind of the reader (and…this is a short list).  Look for descriptive, vivid words, or phrases that bring immediate images or feelings to you.  If you are convinced, your reader will be also.

Try to use metaphors and similes in your poems.  (This is an area where I’m weak)  A metaphor is like a symbol for something.  For instance, a family is like a tree with each person representing a branch.  A simile is a comparison, like being ‘as black as night’ or ‘as white as a swan’ or ‘as happy as a lark’ to name a few.  These can be very powerful for creating an image for your reader, especially if you use a common one.

Revised poem post

Below is the final revision of a recent poem. 

Join a Writer's Circle at a local library.  The ladies in the group are nice, fun and appear to be quite talented.  This is a very good opportunity to share your work, any genre is accepted.  I'm looking forward to the next meeting, the first week of August.  Presenting the following poem for critique.  Hope you enjoy it.

High Rise Thunder

By Kimberly L. McClune

May 24, 2011

Muffled rumbling,

Long and low across the sky,

Resounds.

Sustained drum roll,

Resonant explosive charge

Detonates in the air.

Sepulchral vibrations,

Dampened roars

Linger, echoing into the distance.

Growling barrage

Reverberates, shrouded and soft

As the storm slowly abates.

Hoarse peal of thunder,

Murky and inhibited,

Fades, cloaked in dull clouds.

Restrained whispers,

The stifled booms,

Choked and Distorted,

Remove to the hills

Beyond the soggy,

Sodden landscape.