Let´s edit (our rules)!

What I´ve learned recently from revisiting my older German poems

So: I decided to finally (that is: after a few artist-publications in English and one in Portuguese) make a publication with my poems in my mother-tongue German. Therefore I´m currently taking some time to go through my older German poems, to revisit them, to organize them. It may seem strange that I´ve never made a publication of poems in my mother tongue anyway, but there are a few good reasons for it – that I might leave for another time.

However, I am also doing something I‘ve always felt a huge resistance against… I´m not only editing these poems slightly but I am actually making changes, re-writing them at times. That might not sound like a big thing to you but to me it is…

It took me some time but it seems like finally I can detach, I can see these texts for what they really are, too, without the sentimental value, and I am understanding how at least some of them can‘t work for others in their current form. Some of them don´t even work for me in their current form anymore as the rhythm is bad, word choices seem too forced or combinations, metaphors just unintelligible.

Committing that (to myself and here, openly) doesn‘t just mean acknowledging that some of these poems aren‘t as great as I‘ve thought at times 😆 but it also means that I‘ve learned, that I‘m refining my craft, my understanding, my knowledge. And that is good news. That means I now know how to make these poems better or how to write new, better poems. I now know what I have to watch out for when writing a poem or editing it.

Furthermore it means I´ve become better in letting go – and with that comes the freeing insight that not every poem needs to be good or needs to be published. It means that there was simply a value in writing it at the time, to transform feelings, capture impressions, use them as a form of sporadic, compressed „diary“. And to practice writing, to experiment with words, styles…

Some poems still work, some just don‘t.

And that‘s ok.

Also in my photography I‘ve always found the editing process the most challenging part of the work. Making decisions, deciding for one thing while leaving out another.
When there are so many possibilities decisions can be tough.

But I feel now, that I‘ve learned, that I‘m learning how to edit - and not only through writing but also through reading. Through understanding what makes a great poem/text to me.

And it‘s such a liberation to now be able to see an older text as raw material that allows me to be creative again, instead of being afraid to touch it. It´s ok that it transforms.

It‘s a liberation to let go of rules we made for ourselves but that don‘t serve us (anymore).

It‘s great to allow oneself to play again instead!

That applies to much more than just writing of course… Sometimes we have an idea how certain things have to be done or we are afraid of change. We stick to behaviours and rules that don´t serve us anymore.

So, this is also an invitation to you, to think about where in your life you could learn to detach and let go a little more as to create more space for yourself.

I hope that you feel inspired in some way by these musings… If you like, leave your thoughts on this in the comments : )

So long,

Chrischa

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