February was a month of drafting poems every day. I participated in Laura Shovan’s February Poetry Project on Facebook as well as Open Write on Ethical ELA. I usually draft a poem in one sitting. Put it into a document. Wait a few days. Read it again. Edit/revise and send it off to my critique group or leave it be. Not all drafts are meant to be seen by others.
My notebook is full of starts and stops, meandering, words, ideas…
This morning is dark. Time changed and I haven’t adjusted.
There’s this draft sitting in my notebook from February 25th. The prompt came from Lind Baie, but I didn’t finish the poem. What I had written were the titles of four songs that she had posted from old sheet music to prompt our writing. Two stanzas were done quickly on the day of the prompt. I wrote the other two yesterday. And now on this early Monday morning, I’m going to put it out there for you to see. As I wrote the draft into my blog post, I completed it with the last line connecting each stanza together as song lyrics. It’s still a draft, but it pleased me to finish it.
It Feels Like Three O’Clock in the Morning
We don’t Dance until Three O’clock in the Morning.
On dancing nights, we’re in bed by ten,
still swirling from the twirls of the two-step.
Late afternoon, early evening dance date.We don’t go to 20 All-Time Hit Parades.
We find a spot in a green space, hang for one or two,
catch a few beads, eat a bite of King Cake, cheer
for the queens on the floats–
A slow-paced family Mardi Gras.I don’t Know Enough about You to say
“you are beautiful” out loud, but I see
your smile and that single left dimple
and wish I could. You are, you know,
Beautiful.Five Minutes More, just five more–
Margaret Simon, draft
Set the timer, play the chimes,
I am free to write,
a clean white page with a new
purple pen is singing me a song.
Reflections on the Teche 
Thank you for sharing your process. Some times we need to give time for our prose to percolate.
I also enjoyed hearing about your process, and it makes me want to go back to re-work some old poems. I enjoyed the song titles that started each stanza. The reader can feel a change in tone from the first two verses to the last two, but it is nice, and expands the poem’s meaning.
Thanks for reading. I’m glad you could feel the tone shift.
Clever poem and unique use of song titles. Thanks for sharing your process. I tend to write poems in one sitting, but I think the final piece would be better if I paused and went back to write and reflect later.
Sometimes revision can freeze me but if I let it settle there’s always a better word choice available.
Oh, Margaret, fun. I like that last stanza especially. The hope and power of a clean white sheet. And a purple pen! Fun.