Sunday, April 2, 2017

THINGS TO DO IF YOU ARE A BIRD: A Poem You Won't Find in My Book



I had to write four "new" poems for my book THINGS TO DO. Why? My editor Melissa Manlove and I cut nineteen poems from the original manuscript after we decided to change the focus of my "story in poems."

This morning, I was looking at different drafts of those four "new" poems. It was interesting reading the versions that you won't find in my book.

One of the "new" poems in my book is titled Things to do if you are BIRDS. Here is one of the earlier versions of that poem:


Things to Do If You Are a Bird

 
Perch in a tree top.

Warble a song.

Fill morning with music

Welcoming dawn.

Go fetch a fine breakfast.

Get up…out of bed.

Time to get busy—

A new day’s ahead!



You'll see the final version of the poem as it appears in the book in the illustration below. Sorry the text is so small:

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2 comments:

  1. JoAnn Early MackenApril 2, 2017 at 3:53 PM

    What fun to see the work in progress. It must have been difficult to cut 19 poems! I love the result.

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  2. Elaine MagliaroApril 2, 2017 at 4:05 PM

    JoAnn,

    It took months of discussions with my editor and lots of writing and rewriting. I wrote eight different drafts of my poetry collection.

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