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The Gorgeousness of the Rewrite
Poetry lands in our soul and we try our best to translate it…
“The real art of writing is, of course, in rewriting.”
― A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo
Do you know what I dreaded most in Creative Writing workshop in Junior college?
The rewrite sessions.
After crafting an essay or poem from our hearts, we had to get into groups at the end of the week, swap manuscripts, and slash red ink all over each poor soul’s words.
Yet, essentially, that is what the first words are.
The soul.
Words from the muse.
A piece of the heavens speaking to you.
Before I craft a poem, words float before my eyes. I have an emotion — could be sexy. Rage. Erudite. These words are trying to convey something; before I know it, I am unleashing them on the paper. Sometimes the words have the ghost of a rhyme and the slight tang of rhythm. They are out of order.
I must remember that my fleshly, finite mind is trying to understand the universe’s language so it’s pretty raw on the page, right?
Campbell McGrath, author of ten collections of poetry says,
“For this work — reshaping and unclogging and fine tuning a poem…
