Little Change-- First Post

Finally, I have decided to embrace change and leave the 'journaling' site of http://www.livejournal.com/. I have nothing against the site--- I simply need some easy-far-away-from-drastic-change in my life (as lame and lazy as it may sound). Switching blog sites seems like a good remedy.

My excitement continues to build as I prepare for the Third Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival. I have to select three poems to take into Stephen Dunn's workshop; the topic of his workshop is Revision. Here are his comments: Bring three previously written poems, thirteen copies of each. The most common kind of revision is essentially cosmetic – which involves suggesting this word instead of that word, and in general a paring down, a getting rid of excess. Yet that kind of revision only makes sense when the poem is almost finished. Most poems, in my experience, have more fundamental problems: errors of conception, poor decisions, a lack of formal alertness, etc. Those are the problems on which the workshop will focus. With luck, we'll move to more cosmetic revision. With great luck, we'll simply praise. (taken from the Palm Beach Poetry Festival web page>

I am trying to sort through poems that I feel good but 'ify' about. I want to take advantage of the time with Dunn; however, the poem selection makes me nervous. I fear that I'll take the wrong poems and leave Dunn with the impression that I'm a poetic lame-ass.

Anyway, I have new ideas for poems floating around today-- I think it's time to let them out.