Poetry Pop-up Clinic: Three FREE Lessons on Editing Your Poems Like a Pro

Expert advice from award-winning poets, editors, and writing coaches

Hey there, workshoppers.

Who’s got a pile of poetry drafts, a head full of beautiful words, grand submittable aspirations, but…. are also stuck in the editing mehhhh phase?

Yurp. Us too.

Which is ridiculous, really, because we have a whole heap of poetry workshops, written by some of the raddest, hottest, and most exciting writers on today’s internet (three vital requirements for a Forever Workshop instructor).

So, for the month of August, we’re giving everyone free access to three of our favourite poetry editing lessons and linguistic deep-dives, with expert advice from award-winning poets, editors, and coaches to help you redraft and refine your poems along with us.

Spend this week reading through the lessons and polishing those poems, and next week we’ll be opening up a brand new (free) Feedback Friends Forever call to help you find the perfect poetry beta reader...

Now go put your eyeballs all over ‘em and kick some poetic ass.

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Lesson #1

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ESSENTIAL reading for anyone staring blankly at a poem draft with no idea what to do next, struggling to move beyond the ‘honeymoon phase’ of writing, or just can’t tell if your poems are actually any good at all.

(Psst: they probably are — or they will be after these workshops).

In this lesson, ONLY POEMS founding editor and award-winning poet Shannan Mann guides you through the stages of poetry drafting, the different types of editing, and how to identify exactly what your poem needs.

From The Forever Workshop: Hot & Heavy - Writing Love & Sex Poems That Will Actually Get Published and Have Readers Begging for More

Lesson #2

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A MASTERCLASS in honing and refining your poetry drafts until they’re polished, coherent and ready for submission. Especially useful for anyone writing experimental, surrealist, or just gloriously weird shit.

In this lesson, Karan Kapoor, editor-in-chief of ONLY POEMS, shows you how to craft killer openings and closings, avoid common poetry pitfalls, and ensure that no matter how ‘out there’ your poems are, they’’ll still captivate readers and editors alike.

From The Forever Workshop: The Surrealist's Toolkit — Creating Beautiful Prose Poems from Everyday Madness

Lesson #3

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A SOLID GROUNDING in the use of figurative language for any poet who’s afraid of mixing their metaphors, over-egging their imagery, or cluttering their work with clichés. Every word counts in poetry, so make every word perfect.

In this lesson, poet and coach Kelly Grace Thomas distills over 20 years of teaching experience into the fundamentals of using metaphor to deliver precision, power and deep meaning. An incredibly valuable resource to help you edit your poems so they feel impactful, memorable, and uniquely yours.

From The Forever Workshop: Crafting Fierce & Flawless Figurative Language — our Workshop of the Month!

Happy editing, beautiful poets!

And if you have a question, got a tip to share, or just wanna wax lyrical about poetry with us, then please put yourself into the conversation: