Sitemap - 2026 - The Cutting Room
What the poem was reaching for
The cadence decided what the climb meant before I did
Two lines reached for tears. The cancer was one line below.
One noun too many, and the rest of the poem stays in the drawer
The comfort arrived before the grief did
The hand was on cold rock — then the speaker stepped out of the weather to explain
My two weakest lines, at the two places the form shows them most
I autopsy my own failed poems. Here is the first.
Most writing about poetry shows you how poems succeed. This runs the other way.