A Writer's Notebook, Day Seven-Hundred-And-Fifty-Two

I spent a fair amount of time today working on my new chapbook collection, which is getting close to being in a full draft format.  I am certain that their are still changes to be made, but it is coming together, and I am quite excited to see hole the manuscript, as this book is one that is designed to be a cohesive experience, not just a set of poems.  The connections between the works is intended to create a through line, with a sense of discovery about the work as a whole, and with the later poems changing the meaning of earlier work in unexpected ways.  That is the intent, but to know it is working is difficult until it all comes together, and the result is very much going to rely, I think, on small details and how they guide the reader's understanding of what they are reading.  Certain things will be clear about the structure, at a certain point, but that is not at the start, and yet I also know I need to build connections before those aspects of the work are apparent, and need to foreshadow some of those other elements as best I can.  In working this way, I am finding a new level of possibilities, and I really am interested to fine tune this piece and see what happens.

Beyond this, I am also recognizing this process as something very powerful for my work.  It is a shift in focus from individual poems towards larger works that integrate those smaller pieces in new and exciting ways, drawing me in to aspects of the revision process that I often find difficult for myself.  This process is one that has developed out of my working habits, in that I have a huge amount of work that is good but not necessarily cohesive, as well as poems that I have set aside because I am not certain of all the work that would make them shine the way I desire, or because they are repetitive of themes I feel I handled better in later poems.  In essence, all of that becomes material that I can use in structuring new work, finding a guide for revision through the context of the other work it connects with.  I think that it may be this process will provide me a way to create the kinds of larger poetic works I have imagined, as well as to explore aspects of poetic tradition in new ways.

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