The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.
From Essential Rumi
by Coleman Barks
Consider a poem that troubles you. It evades completion and will not behave. Go after it.
Worry it and shake it out.
Ask questions:
How do you bring the reader into the beginning of the poem?
Where and how do you locate yourself in the poem? Or do you?
Do you use abstract words? Replace them with concrete imagery.
Have you read it aloud to test its rhythm?
In what ways do you make the poem intrigue the reader?
Have you made the heart of the poem clear?
Would a sound, a scent or a color help?
Does it need a sense of place?
Do you have a message to convey?
How do you end it?
After you've answered the questions, toss the poem in the air. Let the lines fall where they may.
Begin again with renewed vigor.
Revisit. Rethink. Revision. Go get it!
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