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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

Date: 5/1/2019 8:40:00 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
Date: 5/1/2019 10:08:00 PM

Thanks for reading. I often tell students that poetry, unlike prose, has an initial magic that can be lost in over editing.