Notes on "Awful Poems" (38-47)

In the introduction to In the Palm of Your Hand, Steve Kowit warns against "falling so madly in love your every word that [you] abandon all critical sense and refuse to rewrite" (v). Chapter Five of Kowit's book deals more specifically with how to revise a poem.

According to Kowit, to write good poems or transform "awful poems" into better poems, writers should be aware of the following liabilities and revise them when found in their work:

             1)   Trite Language 

            2)    Rhyme at Any Cost

            3)    Archaic Words and Poetic Inversions

            4)    Sentimentality or Emotional Slither

            5)    Adjectivitis

            6)    Inappropriate Imagery

            7)    Misuse of Allusions and Mythology

            8)    Overly Protected Ego

Fortunately, the list of attributes to seek is short, so don't worry as much about the above problems as you do striving for the following:

             1)   Honesty

            2)    Clarity

            3)    Simplicity

            4)    Brevity  (39-44)