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Revision as a Poet’s Superpower with Tom C. Hunley

Revision as Cooking, Revision as Childrearing, Revision as Midwifing, Revision as a Poet’s Superpower with Tom C. Hunley

A draft of a poem isn’t a broken thing that needs fixed. It’s not a clear, rational argument that needs a little cleaning up, a little editing. It’s a missive from another world that has thus far been only partially-translated.  Or, as writes Philip Metres in “The Art of Losing (and other Visions of Revision),” “Your work is not full of mistakes, and it’s not broken. It’s just not itself yet” (62). Bingo. That bag of flour and that egg? They’re not a bad cake. They haven’t failed you on your birthday. They’re just not a cake yet. A draft is nothing but the ingredients for a poem, lined up and waiting for the skilled chef to go to work. But there’s no definitive recipe, either, because each poem, if it’s good, is a new thing that has never existed yet. It’s a bird, not a birdhouse, as Dean Young tells us in The Art of Recklessness. A poem is something wild and mysterious that is trying to be born, and your arsenal of revision skills may make the difference, for the poem, between living and dying. Please note – This is a revision workshop, so please bring a draft of a poem.

Tom C. Hunley is the author of eight full-length poetry collections, eight chapbooks, two textbooks, and two produced films. He and his wife of twenty-nine years have four amazing kids. Right or wrong, he believes he has impeccable taste when it comes to literature, film, music, and the one woman who has his whole heart. He seriously lacks inner resources, and he’s almost certain that his liver is diseased. He despises generative AI, groupthink, the tortured language of propaganda, big government, and bloated bureaucracies, especially in universities. He has published poems in journals with names beginning with every letter of the alphabet, from Atlanta Review to Zone 3. He is currently working on a novel and a memoir-in-flash.

Online

$40

Tuesday, May 12, 6-8pm EST

Tom C. Hunley and SCOTCH TAPE WORLD

Tell us the story of your Accents Publishing book, Scotch Tape World.

When the book came out, my sons were ten, eight, and six years old, respectively. The title poem is about a theme park I invented, kind of a counter to Disney, where kids go to learn hard truths about the world. Arguably the best poem in the book, “Confessions of a Failed Beatnik,” is about how my domestic life forced me to confront and revise my ideas about poetry. The question was whether I could still be a poet while raising kids in the suburbs and holding down a job, when I grew up reading and idolizing bearded, barefoot, urban poets.

What do you like most about it?

The book helped me work through the personal crisis that I described in answer to your first question. Could I still be a poet, even after pursuing a different life than the kind lived by many of my poetic role models? If so, what would that look like? The answer came in the form of these poems. Yes, I could still write poetry, and yes, poetry has the power to keep shapeshifting and surprising me enough to sustain my continued interest in it.

What did you have to overcome in order to finish and publish a book?

I had small kids, so I had to overcome legos on the floor, IEP meetings at school, nightmares (my kids’ and my own), sleeplessness, and constant interruptions and distractions.

What do you hope people learn/receive/experience from reading your book?

An escape from the great Godzilla, and a return to Eden.

What was your favorite interaction with a reader and/or a fan?

I’ve been interviewed by creative writing students at various universities. They always ask me questions that make me think about things from new angles. Also, one time I got to meet with a book club in Atlanta that had read and discussed my book. What an honor that was! I would love to see more book clubs exploring contemporary poetry.

What are you working on now? Catch us up one significant event in your life since the publication of Scotch Tape World.

The year Scotch Tape World was published, my eldest son was diagnosed with autism. Then three years later, my wife and I adopted our daughter, aged 16 ½ at the time, from state foster care. Those experiences became the basis for my chapbook, Adjusting to the Lights, which won the Rattle Chapbook Prize in 2020. That year I started branching out into screenplays, two of which got produced. Now I’m working on a novel (or novella) and a memoir.  

Optional bonus question: Is there anything you want to get off your chest about writing or publishing?

I’m not a fan of sensitivity readers, who are really paid censors. I can’t work with publishers who push authors to make market-driven decisions. The only writing that I care about is literary and artistic. The important thing, for me, is to maintain what Stephen Crane called “integrity of personal vision.”