Poetry Revision

I've been trying to learn how to revise poetry. Until recently, I have thought there was some magical poetry-revision formula that only real poets knew. Not true! To become a better reviser of poetry, I have to: 

1. Read a lot of (good) poetry
   
2. Learn all I can about how to write, read and appreciate poetry
   
3. Memorize (good) poetry
   
4. Though this seems obvious ... write and revise plenty of poems
   

My poems are revised in increments. I set the work down, leave it, come back to it and see it with fresh eyes, revise, set it down, come back ...

Here is my first revision of yesterday's poem.

While You are at Your Father's in July

Week four of your absence, night twenty-six,

Counting sheep, snores, days ‘til your return,

I drift to your undisturbed bed, jewel of

Of your glass-lake room

Soft sheets lap the turquoise shore of sleep,

Lines and lines of pale streetlight stretch

Like a canopy across the ceiling,

I close my eyes

Your pillow does its job and a large pink dog 

Flies me to the slant house of your friend

Stella (she’s not imaginary after all),

Who asks how long you’re gone

When I awake some time later, I am ten,

Until your cat appears, trills at my presence, 

Slinks near, wet-noses my face, 

Settles, purrs 

I sing his name, stroke his long back the way

I’ve seen you do, shoulders to tail, 

Shoulders to tail, and for a while, 

We both pretend

I am you