I confess! I don’t like absolute rules… in anything. However, I suspect that most absolute rules evolve from real problems and reasonable cautions. I also think the “essence” and “spirit” of not using words like “Essence” or “Spirit” (or, for that matter, “Love” or “Soul”) is that people see these common non-specific words so often they just scan over them. They are so general they become abstract. They do not conjure specific pictures in the readers mind, or for that matter, in my mind. Sure… everyone can try to explain what they understand by those terms (this is common in most any language), but the trick is to understand more, better or different ways, terms, and/or definitions.

     That need is exactly where, when, and what Poets, Writers, and Teachers mean when they say, “Show, Don’t Tell!” Unfortunately, most of us fail to follow our own instructions; we tell but don’t show. As teachers, we should not only show the better way, we should explain why it is better, and, hopefully, show how to gain such skills. Coincidentally, isn’t it a marvelous experience when the “Show” and the “Tell” also manage to inform and train? Not easy!

      Poets in particular, should test each work (new or old) to find, uproot. and replace abstract generalized terms and words. We need to avoid words like “Marvelous,” “Beautiful,” and “Awesome.” In fact, we should probably question “abstract,” and “generalized” because they are also suspect. We need to test our work, both old and new, and edit the surplus. Adair Lara, a powerful San Francisco writer says, “Kill your darlings!” We need to find, trim, strip, or remove the fungal abstractions we have planted in our personal jungles. There are good concrete words in the mountains, rivers, mines, skies, museums, and the treasures of old traditions. But as examples, “Beautiful,” isn’t, and “Awesome,” repeated becomes mundane! Calling the Grand Canyon awesome and grand does not describe; lucky if it even invites someone to see for themselves.

      If we try to be “writers” we must both test and be suspect of our words. We should lay each word, line, and paragraph on the anvil and hit it to see if the temper rings true. Maybe it should even bounce! We should remind ourselves that words are not reality, but… well done, they can point where reality was last found. Like most, I’m guilty of not doing as I say (even this document has been edited several times), but I have eliminated some of its earlier abstractions (which, itself, is an abstraction) and I have tried to tighten its generalities (of which… “generalities” is an example).

      But if my understanding of the problem makes sense, that’s what “editing” is. Any time we attempt to write prose or poetry, our every word, line, parsing, and indentation… even the shape of the text on the page may, will, might, at times, have a meaning or a beauty. The intent is to affect the effect. And, if that is true, then the other verity is that those variables done poorly can destroy meaning, beauty, and effectiveness of any thing written.

      And, by the way, many editors… maybe even most editors… not only have a general feeling and knowledge of the craft which they handle, but they work from (and look for) a “feeling” which (in their mind, right or wrong) is the essence, the example, the persona, the beat, and the potential sales appeal of their publication. Their opinion of your work, my opinion of your work, and societies opinion of your work may be wrong (and yes, you may be the only correct person on earth). But, the editors and the consumers do have the last vote on what gets published and sold and paid.

      The Beatnik Poets tore up a lot of previous “do’s” and “don’ts,” but I would not be using them as an example if they had failed to find people who would publish their work. If you want to be published, and very particularly, if you want to be paid… then these things not only matter, they control. It also helps if you are persistent… and lucky… or your daddy is a publisher.

698 words © Jim Lyle Jan 06