Revisions, revisions, revisions

Went through Furious Lullaby again. Probably the sixth time through the entire manuscript, though I've revised poems here and there. I filled in some holes by writing four new poems and revising the first third of the manuscript. I need to live with the new order for a little while . . . see how I feel about it.



This time around I'm looking at consistency and I was pretty hard on myself. Personal mission: cut or reduce the "to be" verbs as well as causality words and temporality words. I use causality and temporality words a lot.



I also need to shore up my syntax. It's muddled. It's always been muddled. It sounds like my father's thought patterns which are episodic.



Anyway, I've been having fun. I actually don't mind revision as much as I used to. Boy, when I was in grad school, I struggled with the process. Now it's a game. Sort of like the puzzles in those Highlights magazines I paged through in doctor and dentist offices.

Oliver de la Paz