Godawful Poetry Fortnight - 13

A good poet edits.

So much for the
spontaneous overflow
of powerful feelings
of Wordsworth,
that first raw draft,
which Hemingway said
was always shit;
So much for
the instantaneous
expression, immediately
in the aftermath of
an inspiration.

A good poet edits.

Not therefore the
first vomit,
but the
masticated,
ruminated,
fermented
cud.

A good poet edits.

The thought is allowed
to remain,
rendered somewhat chaste
for
an audience of Bowdlerian taste;
but dressed not
in its first phrases
but one to which
the censor's
scissors
and knives
and tape
have been applied;
to which as
an afterthought
a balm of more flowery
word formation
has been applied;
a bandage of
some intended
(and much unintended)
subtext has been added.

The live poem
now suitable mummified
is now ready
for eternity.

A good poet edits.