A bit of judicious pruning ...

In no way could I claim to be a keen gardener, but I spent a useful hour or so this afternoon beginning the autumn clear up in the back garden. As I was hacking back over-enthusiastic clematis and jasmine, it occurred to me that perhaps this was a bit like editing poems - a necessary activity to get the best out of something. Looking around afterwards, that little bit of care and attention had revealed the real shape of the plants and showed them to much better advantage. It's taken me a while to learn that poems often need a bit of cutting back too, but I'm certainly getting better now at putting a poem aside for a while, then coming back to it with the proverbial "red pen" to tighten things up - and it invariably reads all the better for it!