Craft: The art of the poetry manuscript

"The Old Record," "Sea," "One-tenth," Plath, Siken, Matthews, Clifton, O'Hara, Lewis, Reines, Matejka, Smith, Calvocoressi, Chang, Dugan, Kunitz

Questions I often get asked in consultations through my editorial services have to do with putting a manuscript (of any length) together. Like a Victorian wedding night, so much emphasis and build-up has been put into the act of publishing a book that people become paralyzed with these questions.

These are some of my insights into putting together a poe…