Sand Writers Tip - Poetry Editing Checklist

Each month, one our members shares their tips for writing. This month, Jude Aquilina has put forward her poetry editing checklist. Next time you're writing a poem, be sure to reference this list.

By Jude Aquilina

• Is your poem special/original?
• Is your meaning/message clear?
• What shape is the poem? [centre-spaced poems are disliked by many editors of literary journals]
• Do the lines lengths look right and the line breaks sound/feel right?
• Is the punctuation consistent? [less is more and a line break generally counts for a comma]
• Has the meaning of any line been sacrificed to manipulate the rhyme?
• Are there words or lines which could be eliminated without affecting the poem?
• Are there accidental repetitions / too many words like ‘and’ ‘the’ ‘of’?
• Are the voice and tone consistent and authentic?
• Have you used powerful words at the ends of lines and stanzas?
• Do you need stanza breaks to let the reader absorb before reading on?
• If you write in rhyme, are you counting syllables for the rhythm?
• Is the font plain and easy to read [Times New Roman & Palatino are good]
• Are there childish words [like ‘yummy’] in an otherwise ‘adult’ poem?
• Is your title memorable?  [Titles such as ‘Love’, ‘Summer’ & ‘Flowers’ are not, nor is ‘Untitled’ – give your babies decent names!]
• Do the first lines make the reader want to read on?
• Have you read the poem aloud and listened for problems with sound, pronunciation or rhythm?
• Have you left time between edits? [I never send new work to publishers … I like to leave a poem and come back to it a few times, as I always find ways of improving it]
• Have you kept all the poem’s drafts?  You may need to refer back to earlier drafts. [plastic sleeves are a wonderful invention]
• Have you used a Thesaurus to enrich the vocabulary?
• Have you researched any factual parts of the poem to ensure they’re correct?
• Have you checked for clichés?
• Are there feeble words, which can be replaced or omitted? [Words like ‘very’ ‘really’ ‘nice’ ‘sad’ ‘fun’]
• Have you received feedback from a poetry group or trusted reader? [I don’t send any poems for publication until my poetry partner has read them.]
• Are you sure your poem isn’t insulting, racist, ageist, slanderous?
• Does the resolution give a ‘sense of an ending’?