Writing Stinkers and Gems

Two desk drawers to hide the unfinished ones in.

I don’t know about you, but as a writer, I have two drawers in my desk where I stash unfinished short stories and poetry.  They’re not good enough to stand on their own just yet.  Some are close, but most need a lot of re-working.

The drawers are labeled “Stinkers” and “Gems” ..

I won’t throw them out, because once in a while, I’ll cannibalize something from one of the drawers for what I’m writing in the moment.  In that way, they can be useful. 

But it’s the same when I revisit something I wrote a long time ago.  Short story or poem, I almost always find something I want to change.  I wonder if other writers experience that.

With poetry, most often it has to do with tweaking the meter. I love it when a poem flows smoothly and the meter works, line by line. Even a non-rhyming poem should have a degree of meter to lend feeling and gently pull the reader to the next line through the flow.

With a short story, I usually want to make something clearer for the reader. I would hate for them to stumble around, trying to figure out what I’m trying to say.

Anyway … this poem describes my two drawers of unfinished poetry:

Stinkers and Gems
by C.J. Heck

Sometimes I write a real stinker.
Thank God, most are nice gems.
More often than not, it’s a mixture of both
that somehow escaped through my pen.

I know what to do with the good ones
and the stinkers will all crash and burn,
but what I should do with the ones that are both
is something that I can’t discern.

Right now they all go in drawers.
Male and female, they must multiply.
When I open the drawers, there seem to be more
than I recall putting inside.

Is there a dead poetry warehouse?
If so, I have to go there someday.
I’m all out of drawers and some sound pretty bad,
but they’re too good to just throw away.

Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018.
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