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Poems are personal and subjective. The best way to edit someone else’s poem, or collection of poems, is to not correct the poems but, rather, work with the poet collaboratively to assist them to improve their poems.

As poetry editor, it’s my job to give you feedback and suggestions that will help you ensure your message, or voice, is being relayed clearly to your audience.

I edit poetry collaboratively with the poet via Zoom, handwritten notes/Track Changes  comments and/or other collaborative methods. My approach to editing poetry is a cross between developmental editing and coaching. Working closely with the poet and their poems, I suggest ways in which poems can be fine-tuned, and look at aspects like meter, jarring words, cliches or expected words, rhyming (or not), enjambment, and stanza breaks, and the overall structure and balance of a poetry compilation.

Importantly, I am keenly aware at all times it is your poem, not mine or anyone else’s.

When editing a poem, or manuscript of a book of poetry, I use one or more of my three-step ‘collaborative poetry editing‘ method which is:

1. ‘red pen’ feedback – using a literal red pen/paper, or Track Changes comments
2. collaborative editing – verbal consultation (usually via Zoom)
3. fine-tuning the poem: capturing the pauses and inflections stage (verbal).

1. ‘Red pen’ feedback (non-verbal)

I go through the poem with a ‘red pen’ – literally writing notes and suggestions in red onto the printed-out poems, or using Track Changes comments to write my feedback. My usual method is: First, I read the poem while making notes to self about it. Second, I leave the poem for a few days and let my subconscious mull it over. Third, I either (a) write up my final feedback, and if it is a collection of poems for a book, make structural recommendations, or (b) sent the poet my  first-impression notes, and consult with the poet via Zoom to go through my suggestions for further improvements to the poem or collection of poems.

My suggestions to the poet may include:

• non-negotiable types of corrections (accidental incorrect spelling; repetition or punctuation that jars, or just doesn’t seem to suit the poem)
• improvements (e.g. is there a more interesting or poetic sounding word )
• requesting clarification of what the poet wants to express through certain words or phrases and/or through the poem/collection as a whole
• marking up places where the poem jars, which may be caused by the sound of a word, or “wrong” meter, or a cliche, or something not making sense
• major improvements the editor thinks it worth considering may include changing the order of stanzas; deleting a word, a line or even a stanza; changing the title to something that epitomises the poem/theme.

2. Collaborative poetry editing (verbal)

Often the above red-pen notes or Track Changes comments method is all the poet needs to then self-edit the poem further, themselves.

But if the poet wants or needs verbal explanation or some collaboration to give them clearer feedback and suggestions, we can have a Zoom session to go through the poem and my suggestions together, verbally. This type of support is a cross between a poetry self-editing coaching session and a  collaborative developmental edit.

Once I have worked with the poet to collaboratively edit one or two poems verbally, they usually then have the information they need to self-edit the rest of their poems themselves, in a similar vein.

This verbal collaborative editing stage is roughly like this:

• During the verbal consultation, the poet and I discuss each of my suggestions (in Track Changes ‘comments’ or in my hardcopy print out).
• I ask them to clarify the intended meaning of any words or phrases I think are ambiguous and let them decide whether to change those words or leave them as they are. Often during the session I am typing in their verbal corrections, or their thoughts on a possible improvement, as we go through the poem.
• Where words don’t ‘ring true’ or are cliches, I encourage the poet to go back and think about it more, to come up with alternative words that are clearer, more original and/or a better fit with the metre or style of the poem.
• I will suggest major changes if I believe they will improve the poem or poetry book. For example, if I consider two stanzas should be swapped around, or a word, line or stanza needs to be deleted, I will suggest this and explain why, and ask to poet to read it aloud and see what they think.

In most cases, there is no right or wrong way to say what the poet wants to say. During and after the verbal session, I give that feedback but it’s up to the poet to decide which changes to make, and how to finalise the poem.

3. Fine-tuning: capturing the pauses and inflections

When the poet is happy with all the words in the poem and how they are placed, the punctuation in the poem needs to be finalised.

This can be done by the poet, alone, or in collaboration with the editor, but either way, I recommend the poet uses their verbal read-aloud skills to decide where and when to insert or correct punctuation.

My verbal collaboration with the poet to check the punctuation and fine-tune  the poem is like this:

• I ask the poet to read their poem out loud. As they recite, I capture – through their pauses and inflections – the punctuation, line endings or stanza breaks that are indicated by the way they read it out. I then tell them any punctuation corrections I “heard” in the way they read it aloud, and help them decide whether to make those corrections.
• If when reading their poem aloud the poet ‘skips’ a word, or introduces a word that isn’t in the typed poem, I tell them about it. My view is, if you “accidentally” read out a different word or different punctuation sound than the one in the typed poem, you will usually find that the read-aloud version – the way you said it out loud – is the correct one.
• If the poet stresses a word when reading it aloud, I may suggest to them ways to make that word stand out; for example, place the word on its own line, or type the word in a different font.
• Once we have corrected the punctuation and line breaks during the read-aloud process, I may ask the poet to read their poem aloud again so I can double-check and revise the corrections we have made. And/or I may read their poem back to them so they can hear how those subtle changes change the meaning or impact of certain words, lines, or the whole poem.
• Going through the poem together in this way ensures punctuation and words in the poem represent the way the poet reads their poem themselves – which then makes it more likely that when someone else reads the poem, they will read it just like the poet has intended.

Note: I have developed the above method of collaborative poetry editing myself. Feedback from all the poets I have worked with shows that each stage (1, 2 or 3) can have a very good result without doing all 3 stages; but that when all 3 stages are applied, the results are particularly good.

Why poetry needs to be collaboratively edited

I have heard some poets and even poetry editors say that because poems are entirely subjective, it is up to the poet alone to decide or know how they want to present their poem – that is, that there is no need for an editor’s opinion.

I don’t agree with this view for these reasons:

1. Firstly, the aim of any poem that a poet wants to publish is not to just self-talk. The aim is to relay their message to their intended audience. It is hard for a poet to know if their message is hitting the mark, without feedback. That is what a poetry editor is for: to give the poet feedback as to whether their poem ‘works’ or not, and if there are bits that don’t ‘work’, or jar, tell them.
2. An experienced poetry editor is used to ensuring the poet maintains full ownership and control over their poems. They provide feedback and suggestions to the poet so the poet can improve their own poem, so that it not only reflects the poet’s thoughts or feelings but also relays those thoughts or feelings in the best possible way, to the reader.
3. Some poets are excellent at writing poetry but they do not have good knowledge of punctuation. Poor or incorrect punctuation can prevent the reader from understanding the message, or can create a jarring effect which prevents the reader from appreciating the poem or the poet’s message. It is difficult for even the most experienced poets to make sure their poem has no typos and is punctuated correction. That’s what an editors is for.

Note: if poets collaborate with one another to provide feedback about one another’s poems, they can get good results. The beauty of hiring an editor to give you feedback on your poem is that a professional editor knows how to provide feedback without overstepping the author’s or poet’s boundaries.

Some poems are not destined to be read by others, but only performed by the poet themselves. These poems do not have to be punctuated correctly, and they can contain typos and spelling errors, because the only person who will see those errors is the poet. However, these poems may still contain a word or line that doesn’t ring true, or is a cliche, or would work better if it was moved to a different stanza, or would be better if the poet deleted it altogether. So even with performance poetry, a poetry editor will help you improve your poems.

Sally-Anne’s experience in editing poetry collaboratively

Most editors are not experienced in editing poetry, and do not know how to edit poetry, and most editors do not write poetry.

Editing poetry written by someone else (rather than yourself) requires poetic instinct, years of experience in reading others’ poetry, and general editing experience. If the poetry editor also happens to be a practising poet, that is a bonus.

Sally-Anne Watson Kane (On Time Typing, Editing and Proofreading) has been reading and writing poetry her whole life, and editing other people’s poetry for 25 years.

Helpful links/information

• Self-editing – the read-aloud method.
• The difference between editing prose and poetry.
• Sally-Anne is a member of Australian Poetry.  We recommend you join this organisation to keep up to date with what’s happening in Australian poetry.

Photograph: Darren Kane.  Copyright image: Sally-Anne Watson Kane.