[Michael F]

I mean, completely?

For me, it’s now probably > 50%, and that has grown over time. I am more likely now to trash a poem a day or two or months after writing it, feeling (decisively) that it doesn’t work and no amount of tinkering, tweaking or tucking will save it. Part of the reason is that I’m trying NOT to write the same poem over and over again, and another part is that I’m more accustomed to, and expectant of, failure (I hope that is a good thing, but I’m not truly sure).

So, how much do you trash? How quickly? Has this changed over time?

[David Rosenthal]

Including (a) what write down in some way and end up crumpling up, and (b) what I write down in some way and leave indefinitely with a fake intention to return to but never really will return to but still somehow can't get rid of, probably 60-70%. Throw in (c ) stuff I seriously work in my head for a long time and give up on before writing it down in some way, and it goes up to 90% easily. This is all a big problem for me because my gross output is incredibly low.

David R.

[Michael Cantor]

Pretty much what David said, including the low output. If I didn't have a workshop once a month, where I feel naked without something to show, I'm not sure I'd ever finish anything.

[R. Nemo Hill]

None.

Nemo

[David Rosenthal]

Originally Posted by R. Nemo Hill

None.

Nemo

At first this comment surprised me, but then I thought about it and realized that a surprisingly high volume of bits and pieces of the 90% I spelled out above comes back into circulation in various ways. It may be that much of what I think I trash actually ends up untrashed. It suspect it is actually part of "the whole process," or something like that. I doubt this is what Nemo had in mind (though it may be) but it is what came to me after reading his post.

David R.

[Mary Meriam]

Yeah, really. What Nemo said. Just file what you write if you can't find your way in to it, and return later.

[David Rosenthal]

Originally Posted by Mary Meriam

Yeah, really. What Nemo said. Just file what you write if you can't find your way in to it, and return later.

Yeah but sometimes I like to tear things up in a violent fit. Just sayin'.

David R.

[R. S. Gwynn]

0%. If something doesn't work it's usually because I don't know how to make it work . . . yet.

[David Rosenthal]

Sorry to be exceeding my allotted airtime in this thread, but I am finding it interesting. Nemo's, Mary's, and Sam's replies have caused me to revise my thinking on the subject.

The idea that I should file something away is particularly interesting to me because the things I have actually, literally filed away are things I almost never return to. Things I tear up and toss or banish from my mind tend to find their way back (often in a different form) to be part of something that ends up surviving.

Sam's comment particularly resonates for me. I have always seen it as the discarded bit will come back if it is good or worthy, but it may be more likely that it will come back when I am ready to handle it. Hmmm.

David R.

[Susan McLean]

I write down a lot of fugitive ideas and phrases that never get developed into poems, but for those that I do work on to the point that I have a poem, I discard a relatively low percentage. Five percent maybe. On the other hand, probably at least 20% of the ones that I like and keep sending out never get accepted. Eventually I stop sending them out. However, I never throw away anything. Sometimes I look back through my jottings to see if any of them triggers the urge to work on it more. Occasionally I discover that an old poem that I thought wasn't working can be salvaged.

Susan