HOW I ASSEMBLE POETRY COLLECTIONS by David Olsen

My method of assembling poetry collections

American novelist Philip Roth once said that he doesn’t sit down to write a novel; he writes a sentence, then a paragraph, and so on, page after page. I rarely write a sustained sequence of poems on a single theme or subject. Instead, I write in response to ideas in whichever order they choose to present themselves. This practice results in poems with little systematic relation to each other. Accordingly, rather than composing a single book or pamphlet at a time, I compile a few or several groupings of poems on various themes or subjects. In a high-level folder called Poetry Collections, I create a series of subfolders with provisional book or pamphlet titles.
             Each subfolder contains a file based on a template suitable for a book or pamphlet manuscript, with Title Page, Acknowledgements for listing previously published poems, and a Table of Contents. If needed, section dividers are added later. I give each document file a provisional title consisting of an abbreviated book title and the word Source, because not every new poem pasted into a Source file will necessarily survive in a manuscript as submitted. The file name also includes the number of poems it contains, so I can tell at a glance which files might approach the length of a pamphlet or full-length collection.
            When I create a new poem, I consider whether it might be a candidate for inclusion in one or another of the provisional titles. If so, I copy the text of the poem into the appropriate file in whatever tentative order makes sense, relative to the poems already in the file. Over time, each manuscript grows synthetically. If a file becomes long enough for submission as a pamphlet or full collection, I consider whether any new poem creates the opportunity to replace a weaker poem with a stronger one. As a result of this discipline, a manuscript of a given length can evolve to become progressively more viable.
            If a new poem might fit in more than one manuscript under construction, I include it wherever it might add value. The acceptance of any one manuscript for publication will allow plenty of time to delete duplicated poems from other manuscripts not yet accepted.
            When a file reaches suitable length for a pamphlet or full-length collection, before submitting to a given opportunity, I choose a candidate manuscript file and rename it with a title that conforms to the specifications of the potential publisher, and omits the word Source.
            Because the initial placement of poems in a Source file may not be optimal, I carefully review the manuscript, while paying close attention to the order of the poems, so a narrative or thematic trajectory emerges. Publishers of poetry books prefer collections or pamphlets with discernible through lines.
            Obviously, a submitted manuscript should be edited with disciplined attention. To ensure that individual poems are error-free, poems should be edited before they are placed in the manuscript. I advise reading the entire book or pamphlet more than once, with fresh eyes, to ensure that the work meets a professional standard.
            My experience in working with poets has taught me that each mind works differently, and creative processes differ accordingly. The foregoing description of my process for assembling a poetry collection is not intended to be prescriptive, but it works for me. Perhaps it will work – or can be adapted – for others.

David Olsen is the author of Unfolding Origami, Past Imperfect, Exit Wounds, After Hopper & Lange, 
Nocturnes, and The Lost Language of Shadows

Editor's comment: This is an excellent system for keeping track of your own progress toward a collection. In addition you can use tags to help you to retrieve poems on different themes (you can add more than one tag to a poem, just as David includes some poems in more than one potential collection folder.) Thank you, David, for this helpful essay. — Janice