Loredana P. Kint

So, you’ve written a poem, and you’re not sure what to do next.

First of all, well done!

The hardest part is over. You’ve come up with an idea, and you’ve put it on paper. (See my earlier blog posts on writers block and using photos for poetic inspiration if you’re still on your first draft).

But careful editing is what makes a poem stand out to readers and judges. It is also what helps you grow as a poet and define your poetic voice.

These beginner’s tips on editing your poetry may come in handy, whether this is your first poem, or your hundredth.

• Let the poem ripen
• Use the thesaurus
• Check for clichés
• Rewrite your poems again and again
• Change the font / medium / colour
• Be brutal with your trimming
• Read it out loud
• Share with a small audience

1. Let the poem ripen.

Think of your poem like a piece of fruit.

Writing the poem is like plucking the fruit. This in itself needs to be done at the right time, while the idea is fresh.

Setting the draft aside for a few days/weeks/months lets it ripen. Without realising it, your original poetic ideas will simmer and transmutate, and you’ll revisit the draft with new angles and perspectives.

Editing the poem is akin to peeling and preparing the fruit, so that you can present it to others in its best state.

So, tempting as it is to post, publish, or enter your newly-harvested poem in a competition, try setting it aside for a period of time before returning to perfect it.

If you’re still buzzing with the urge to write poetry now now now, channel that into starting something new!

2. Use the thesaurus.

It sounds archaic, but the thesaurus is the poet’s essential companion. There are countless websites you can refer to (I use Thesaurus.com) or you can go the truly old-fashioned route and use a physical thesaurus (I got a Roget’s pocket thesaurus for $1 at a library clearout).

Poetry is all about choosing the best word for the best purpose, and the thesaurus will offer you a whole host of options beyond what you might be able to think up on the spot.

Discretion must be exercised, however, as an plethora of flamboyant synonyms hazards the creation of unduly verbiose phrases which dissuade the reader (see what I did there?)

3. Check for clichés.

It always pays to check your poetry closely for clichés, overused comparisons, or even overused words.

They really can sneak in without you noticing, and I’ve been guilty on a few occasions myself. It’s something that poetry competition judges will always frown upon, so be vigilant!

4. Rewrite your poems again and again.

When hand writing my poetry, I like to periodically rewrite my poem drafts onto fresh pages so that I can view them without the surrounding scribbles and see how they are fitting together.

I may rewrite them by hand or type them onto a document, depending on where I am physically.

If you want to do something very bold, a piece of advice I got from Aotearoa New Zealand Slam champion Eric Soakai is to rewrite a draft on a fresh page without looking at the previous draft AT ALL. This method is meant to result in you keeping only the really memorable and impactful parts of your original draft.

5. Change the font / medium / colour.

I read this tip online somewhere many years ago, and as bizarre as it may seem, it really works. 

If you’ve been working on a typed poem draft for a while, and you think it’s nearly finished, stop and change the font. All of a sudden, different things will stand out to you. A word that could be replaced with a stronger synonym. A line break that doesn’t flow. An issue with your structure.

If you’re writing on paper, try changing your pen colour or typing up the next draft instead.

Try it, and see if it works for you!

6. Be brutal with your trimming

It can be tempting to keep a particularly clever simile, and then add an entire stanza around it, just to maintain the rhyme scheme.  

I’m guilty of this. My first drafts are usually quite long, and trimming can be painful.

Keep an eye out for unnecessary or redundant sections in your drafts. Repetition can be used skilfully for a purpose, but on the other hand, you don’t usually need three different metaphors to illustrate a single message. 

Sometimes, you just have to be bold and use a big fat marker pen (or the backspace button) to trim the draft to half its size or more.

Short poems pack a punch. Keep the reader engaged and don’t use up too much of their time if you don’t genuinely need to.

7. Read it out loud

If you’re not specifically a Spoken Word poet, chances are, you don’t read your poetry out loud much while you’re writing it. You know how it sounds in your head, that should be enough, right? 

How it sounds in your head might be quite different to how it sounds in a reader’s head, or even read aloud by them. 

Reading your own drafts aloud can help you pick up subtle issues with the metre, line breaks, and rhymes. Sometimes, I keep saying a line aloud till it feels just right. 

This isn’t just something you can do when you’re on the final draft, it can be helpful to do this early on in the writing process.

8. Share with a small audience

If you’re not sure whether your poem is ready for the big wide world, share it with 1-5 close friends who you know will read it thoroughly and give you specific feedback. 

Choose wisely who you will share with, because enthusiastic friends who think all your poetry is “amazing” will boost your self-confidence, but not help you continue growing as a poet. Pick people who either write or read poetry and other writings themselves, and let them know you are open to the negatives as well as the positives.

That’s it!

There we go. A handful of beginner’s tips on editing your poetry that you can apply to pretty much any draft. 

I hope these are helpful, and would love to know any other poetry editing tips and tricks in the comments below.

Happy writing!