Poem Revision - revising our poetry

I guess I am not sure how many have read the Forest Poem below. If you have, you may notice that it has changed a couple times already since first posted. Over the next week or two I will continue to revise it in an attempt to improve it (haha, maybe it will go the other way?) I don't plan on this piece being the killer of all killer poems, I know it won't, is not meant to be, but I hope to bring it to a level that provides a breath of inspiration while also being an interesting read. We'll see?

I love revision!! I almost always revise my poems at least a few times and hardly ever write (share) improv pieces. Maybe an exception is when I write Haiku. I will sometimes leave an instant haiku to a friend in a blog or email as my little piece of poem candy, usually written on the spot in response to the things I am reading/replying to. I find the revision process facinating. Sometimes, when things are right in our head, a poet can go outside of his or her mind and really look at a piece as a reader might. This is a difficult task, to disconnect one's self from our own poem but it is crutial to success in revision. I always try to get that first draft on paper in my journal, encompassing all the thoughts and/or using the notes I have written prior to starting, then build from there at a later date after the piece breathes a bit. Instant revision is not a real good thing normally either in my opinion.

Receiving rejections is a good thing sometimes. Yes, it may bruise the poet's ego maybe, but it should also serve as a motivation to potentially look at a piece deeper and revise it for improvement for the next round of submissions.

The poem below has had at least 10 revisions so far (and it still stinks...lol) and I probably spent about 8 hours with it total. I wrote it in 2006 originally.

My record for hours worked on one single poem is 125 hours. This was over a 1.5 year period total. I am still shopping it around, trying to find it a home. It's an experimental piece, 13 lines long and so far, I have received 3 fine rejections. Smiles!

I think I average about 5 hours per "finished" poem. I wonder how much time others spend? (promp)

Oh well, keep writing and reading poetry!!! and of course... revising.