LITR 3731: Creative Writing 2008
Student Poetry Submission
Susan Butaud
A Serial Procrastinator
Hands shaking
Heart pounding
Gotta do it
Gotta do it
Search through journals
Find an idea
Don’t give up
Don’t give up
Daughter’s home
Give her time
It can wait
It can wait
Drive to practice
Come home, fix dinner
Write it later
Write it later
She’s all tucked in
No time to waste
Get to work
Get to work
Mind is wandering…
Ooh, House is on…
Stay on task
Stay on task
Do other work
Ahh, an idea!
Write it down
Write it down
Read it over
It’ll do
The assignment’s done.
Paper’s due
Need an idea
Gotta do it
Gotta do it…
Revision Account
Writing has always been spontaneous for me. Unfortunately, the spontaneity doesn’t usually come to me until the night before the paper, story or poem is due. For this assignment, I decided not to procrastinate. I went home the night it was assigned and wrote a poem. Unfortunately, when I read it the next day, I was far from pleased with it. It was not my voice, but the voice of which I thought would meet with the class’ approval. So being a serial procrastinator, I decided to just put it off. It was when I was doing the first reading assignment for this class that it came to me. Write what I know.
I was a little nervous to present my poem to the class. My writing has always been so personal to me. I was afraid that the class would rip it to shreds and it would no longer be my work. I was wrong. The class gave me suggestions that helped me to tweak different lines by adding or deleting a word.
The Thought Process of a Serial Procrastinator
The title was entirely too long and a suggestion was made to change or alter it. I knew that the title had to do with my constant procrastination. In the end, I decided to simply shorten it.
Hands are shaking
Heart is pounding
Gotta do it
Gotta do it
These words were eliminated to set the meter of the poem.
Search through journals
Find an idea
Don’t give up
Don’t give up
This stanza seemed to work for everyone so I didn’t change a word.
Daughter’s home
Time for her
Set it aside
Set it aside
The suggestions for this stanza were to change the wording. I was please with the changes because the new wording made the poem flow better.
Drive to Cheerleading
Come home fix dinner
I’ll do it later
I’ll do it later
Since my daughter is involved in other activities at different times of the year, the word cheerleading was changed to the word practice in order to be less specific. The next line was separated by a comma, and the last two lines were change because they were too wordy.
She’s all tucked in
No time for me
Get to work
Get to work
These words were changed because it didn’t make since. When I changed it, it brought the stanza together.
Mind is wandering
Ooh, House is on
Stay on task
Stay on task
It was suggested that by changing the way these two lines appear in the poem would help the reader see my mind wandering. I think it works.
Do reading assignment
Get an idea
Write it down
Write it down
I changed these lines in order show how quickly ideas hit me.
Read it over
Pleased with it
Poem’s done
Poem’s done.
The second line was changed because as a procrastinator, I’m never pleased with the end result. The word poem was changed to assignment to make it a more ambiguous assignment.
The last stanza was added in order to show the unending cycle of my procrastination.
I am very pleased with the end result of my revised poem. It is still my work and still in my voice. After reading and re-reading my poem, there is nothing else that I would do to change it. Although it is comical in nature, I feel that this poem shows how my life really is. I can blame my procrastination on my busy life, but I allow myself to be easily distracted in order to put things off. As for the future of this poem, I’m submitting it for publications in a literary magazine.
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