Poetry Overview:

I. Attention

Poetry needs a different kind of editing compared to novels or short stories.

It asks for attention to cadence, silence, enjambment, breath, and image — to what a line does when it breaks and what a word carries when it lingers alone. My work with poets begins with listening: to tone, to compression, to the internal music already present in the draft.

The goal is not to domesticate the poem (feral poems are great!), but to help it clarify its own intention.

II. Precision & Restraint

In poetry, revision is often restraint.

We look closely at:

• rhythm and stress
• line integrity and breaks
• tonal coherence
• image density
• unnecessary abstraction
• over-explanation

I suggest adjustments that sharpen without flattening, strengthen without crowding, and clarify without draining mystery.

The poem must remain itself, just more deliberate.

III. Structure & Sequence

For collections or chapbooks, attention expands beyond the single poem.

We consider:

• thematic progression
• tonal variation
• ordering and pacing
• recurring imagery
• narrative or emotional arc

A strong collection moves the reader — not by volume, but by accumulation.

Poetry editing is subtle work. It is less about rewriting and more about tuning.