The Art of Revising Poetry

Kim Stafford is Emeritus Professor at Lewis & Clark College, Oregon, USA, where he founded the Northwest Writing Institute and taught for over thirty years. His twelve books of poetry and prose include, The Muses Among Us: Eloquent Listening and Other Pleasures of the Writer’s Craft (2003) and 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: How My Brother Disappeared (2012). His most recent book is the poetry collection Singer Come from Afar (2021). He has taught writing in the US, Scotland, Italy, Mexico, and Bhutan. In 2018 he was named Oregon’s 9th Poet Laureate for a two-year term. Charles Finn is the former editor of the literary and fine arts magazine High Desert Journal and author of Wild Delicate Seconds: 29 Wildlife Encounters (2012) and On a Benediction of Wind: Poems and Photographs from the American West (2022). His essays, poems, and nonfiction have been published in a wide variety of journals, magazines, newspapers, and anthologies across the United States.

Poet Biographies

Introduction: Charles Finn & Kim Stafford.

SECTION I: "I riffed, following the language where it led"

Chapter 1: Bedtime Story, Joe Wilkins, Linfield University, USA.

First Draft: "My Son Asks for the Story About When We Were Birds"
Final Draft: "My Son Asks for the Story About When We Were Birds"
Essay: Finding the Language, Finding Story: Revising "My Son Asks for the Story About When We Were Birds"

Chapter 2: When Thought's Slope Steepens, Jane Hirshfield, Author and Poet.

First Draft: "Counting, New Year's Morning, What Powers Yet Remain to Me"
Final Draft: "Counting, This New Year's Morning, What Powers Yet Remain to Me"
Essay: Stepladder, Vinegar, Persimmons: Revising "Counting, This New Year's Morning, What Powers Yet Remain to Me"

Chapter 3: Increasing The Stakes, CMarie Fuhrman, Western Colorado University, USA.

First Draft: "Land Acknowledgment, Valley County, Idaho"
Final Draft: "Land Acknowledgment, Valley County, Idaho"
Essay: Rhythm, Repetition, and the Drumbeat of Poetry: Revising "Land Acknowledgment, Valley County, Idaho"

Chapter 4: Researching The Mystery, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Author and Poet.

Passage from First Draft: "River Run"
Passage from Third Draft: "River Run"
Essay: What it Took to Get Here: Revising "River Run"

Chapter 5: Creating a More Beautiful Story, Sean Prentiss, Norwich University, USA.

Intermediated Draft: "The Constellations of Slate Belt, Pennsylvania" (with notes)
Final Draft: "The Constellations of Slate Belt, Pennsylvania"
Essay: Without Myths or Constellations: Revising "The Constellations of Slate Belt, Pennsylvania"

Section II: "My first draft was a word tornado"

Chapter 6: Inheritance, Frank X Walker, University of Kentucky, USA.

First Draft: "InHerit"
Final Draft: "InHerit"
Essay: Revisions in Life and Poetry, Revising "InHerit"

Chapter 7: A Matter of Inquiry, Rose McLarney, Auburn University, USA.

First Draft: "The Collectors of Local Minerals Are Likelier to Find What They Seek"
Final Draft: "The Collectors of Local Minerals Are Likelier to Find What They Seek"
Essay: Identifying Gems: Revising "The Collectors of Local Minerals Are Likelier to Find What They Seek"

Chapter 8: Gift From an Older Self, Naomi Shihab Nye, Texas State University, USA.

Final Draft: "Tears, Appropriate"
Essay: Gravity Changes: Revising "Tears, Appropriate"

Chapter 9: A Poem's Truest Expression, Yona Harvey, University of Pittsburgh, USA.

First Draft: "Hickory Street, New Orleans"
Final Draft: "Hickory Street, New Orleans"
Essay: True Expression as the Last Trolley Stop: Revising "Hickory Street, New Orleans"

Chapter 10: An Inward Dissection, Terry Tempest Williams, Harvard Divinity School, USA.

Original Prose Paragraph: "When Women Were Birds"
Revision Into Poetry: "When Women Were Birds"
Essay: Once Upon A Time: Revising "When Women Were Birds"

SECTION III: "It felt clunky, false, but I knew I was close"

Chapter 11: To See Again, Paulann Petersen, Stanford University, USA.

Intermediate Draft: "A Furrier's Grandchild"
Final Draft: "A Furrier's Grandchild"
Essay: I Hear the Poem Speak For Itself: Revising "A Furrier's Grandchild"

Chapter 12: Radiant Associations, Philip Metres, John Carroll University, USA.

First Draft: "Ashberries: Letters"
Final Draft: "Ashberries: Letters"
Essay: Letters I Must Wait to Open: Revising "Ashberries: Letters"

Chapter 13: An Act of Faith, Abayomi Animashaun, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, USA.

First Draft: "Exodus"
Final Draft: "Exodus"
Essay: Discipline and Unknowing: Revising "Exodus"

Chapter 14: Removing Details, Tami Haaland, Montana State University Billings, USA.

First Draft: "Deer on Crazy Creek"
Final Draft "Deer on Crazy Creek"
Essay: Making the Local Exact: Revising "Deer on Crazy Creek"

Chapter 15: Forging Something New, Charles Finn, Author and Poet.

First Draft: "Memory's Anvil"
Final Draft: "Memory's Anvil"
Essay: The Winch of Imagination: Revising "Memory's Anvil"

Chapter 16: Maintaining Fidelity, Shin Yu Pai, Author and Poet.

First Draft: "Empty Zendo"
Final Draft: "Empty Zendo"
Essay: Emptying the Zendo: Revising "Empty Zendo"

SECTION IV: "I asked my dreams."

Chapter 17: What's at Stake, Kim Stafford, Lewis & Clark College, USA.

Final Draft: "Lost in Snow"
Essay: Getting More Intimate with Pain: Revising "Lost in Snow"

Chapter 18: Zeroing in on Intent, Prageeta Sharma, Pomona College, USA.

First Draft: "The Witness"
Final Draft: "The Witness"
Essay: The Poem's Psychic Center: Revising "The Witness"

Chapter 19: In Thick Darkness we Listen, Shann Ray, Gonzaga University, USA.

First Draft: "God of my abandonment"
Final Draft: "God of my abandonment"
Essay: Obscuring a Formidable Power: Revising "God of my abandonment"

Chapter 20: The Serpentine Path, Todd Davis, Pennsylvania State University, USA.

First Draft: "Tributary"
Final Draft: "Tributary"
Essay: Following a Tributary to Find a Poem: Revising "Tributary"

Chapter 21: Dreaming Poetry, Beth Piatote, University of California, Berkeley, USA.

First Draft: "Because our Roots are in Rivers, Not Latin"
Final Draft: "Because our Roots are in Rivers, Not Latin"
Essay: How Not to Write A Sonnet: Revising "Because our Roots are in Rivers, Not Latin"

Index