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Donald Hall Revises His Poems HOW Many Times?!
One of the great shocks of my life happened in a college auditorium in Plymouth, New Hampshire, about fifteen years ago.
Dave* and I were sitting a few rows back, so the tilt of the “audience” floor put us just about level with Donald Hall’s face. (New England manifests its own center of gravity, so I’ll understand if you haven’t heard of this Major American Poet — he thrived in New Hampshire — but maybe you just forgot about him briefly? Refresh your memory here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/donald-hall.) We both loved and admired his work, Dave more for the baseball-related touches, me for the rural life and romance and loss. [*I have jumped time periods with this segment; I met Dave, my DK, when he and I were 50, and we married, happily ever after — until his very forseeable death. More on that, some other time. Focus on happily.]
A couple of Hall’s friends sat with him on stage, wearing lapel microphones, having a public conversation with each other. One mentioned revision; Hall nodded, his beard emphasizing the movement. “Always,” he confirmed. How often? “About fifty times for each poem.”
Despair swept over me. Fifty!! I usually did a few revisions — maybe as many as five full re-writes if I saw ways to strengthen a poem. That’s probably how many I’d invested in this one:
