Getting out the red pen ..

Until this week I wasn't familiar with Auden's words - "A poem is never finished, only abandoned". But I was at an excellent workshop on Tuesday in which we were looking at editing - hardly sounds the most riveting of subjects, but I learned a lot of very useful lessons. Less is often more and coming back to a piece of work after some time, looking at it with fresh eyes and editing appropriately can certainly be the making of it. I've been reviewing some of my older poems since and finding many opportunities to "tighten them up" - and some do read a whole lot better for it!.