Kurt Philip Behm Poet Rhyme

First Cut

Do you change the meaning
  in favor of form

Do you add a new comma
  because it’s the norm

Do you shorten the sentence
  because it’s advised

Do you scour the pages
  re-dotting your I’s

Do you read and reread
  again to address

What sure of at first
  and now want to correct

A wise man once said
  and it’s truer today

“The First Cut Is The Deepest”
   —leave your words as they lay

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)

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David Mchattie May 1, 2019 at 8:40 PM Sound advice my friend. I read a poem by Keats where he and a friend would fuss over each line in his poems for over an hour. He was one very serious poet. We forget how committed these people were. Have a great day my friend. Kurt Philip Behm May 1, 2019 at 10:08 PM Thanks for reading. I often tell students that poetry, unlike prose, has an initial magic that can be lost in over editing.