April was the month for writing new poems, and this month is for editing and for recreating.

Using Kristen Baum’s cutting-up method of revision (see here for her explanation and demonstration), print one of your poems that you feel needs to be rearranged and cut it up into the phrases you want to keep together and into individual words. Give yourself plenty of space—a table or even the floor—to play around with the order. Find out which words and phrases you can leave out. You may need to add more words into the mix, so make another printout, cut them out, and include them. See what works. Experiment and play.

For a writing/editing prompt, let’s cento a new poem out of those you’ve left sitting in folders. Take several of those 30/30 poems that you are unhappy with and any older poems that you have also given up on further editing and cut each line up into separate strips of paper. Since these are your own poems, you of course can add words and punctuation as needed, but first try to use each line as is to see if that constraint can push you into a new direction.

I hope these suggestions help you give new life to a poem you’ve abandoned.

For a bonus prompt, write about a place you had left behind but discovered it grown new life when you returned. Perhaps you visited a childhood home and saw new trees and flowers planted in the front yard or maybe a tire swing or play set. Has the tree limb you broke climbing it grown another branch? Describe these new possibilities, or look for the ghost of your child self and those of your family that seem to remain. Is your name carved somewhere?