When I asked Alexandra Meehan, my editor, to do a foreword for Love & Metaxa, I wanted my readers to understand the connection a poet has with the editor. It’s not just a cut-and-dry edit, this poetry editing process for Love & Metaxa has taken us years of going back and forth, it’s a creative process that brought out my creativity, my desires, my words, and my own self-reflection. What did I actually mean when I wrote this poem?

Alexandra is a master editor, her brain is like a computer when it comes to grammar, punctuation, poetic devices. She sees through words the way I never could.

Some of my poems went on for pages and she literally split them down the middle and said, “This is actually two poems. Now fix it.” I would stare at these two poems that were once one poem and try to see what she saw, then I would rewrite, reword, restructure, and she was absolutely correct! I couldn’t see that they were two poems. Without Alexandra, the poems in the book would be very different.

    For all emerging poets thinking it will take you a few months to put your poems in a word document and then publish, I am here to tell you, you are mistaken.  My poems have never been more polished than they are in this book, and this is all due to the editing. 

     In Love & Metaxa, Alexandra Meehan and I edited up until the last day before I uploaded the manuscript. It was an intense last couple of months, not knowing how long the process would take us, and having a deadline for pre-order. 

    I want to include the foreword here for the people who have the original version of the book. If you receive my book with a foreword then rest assured you have the edited, correct version. We had zero control of its distribution as a result of Magnolia Press. To learn more about how this uncontrollable fiasco nearly gave me an aneurysm, click here: christinastrigas.com/tag/publishing-love-and-metaxa/

I want to include the foreword because I am so proud of the editing that Alexandra Meehan has provided me in this book. 

It was as if she entered my mind. She nicknamed me “Speedy” because when I was on a writing roll, I could not stop. My pet peeve is the editing process!

I admit it’s all about the poetic ego. I have learned to abandon the ego and go with the best word for the poem. To achieve a perfect poem you sometimes edit more or less. The only poem in the book that was not edited and was published as I wrote it the first time here on my blog is “Making My Lists Before Dawn.”

My next blog post I will tell you all about the creative process of writing that poem.

Here is the Foreword by Alexandra Meehan from my poetry book Love & Metaxa.

If you want to reach Alexandra Meehan you can email her at alexandrameehan@yahoo.com :www.alexandrameehan.com/

Her Twitter handle: twitter.com/lexmeehan?lang=en

Alexandra Meehan is a writer and poetry editor residing in Gainesville, Florida. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She has worked as a creative consultant, professional writer, and as a creative writing tutor. Her poetry has been featured by the Feminine Collective and Rhythm & Bones, among others. In her spare time, Alexandra cultivates Venus flytraps, paints, and cares for her rescue cats.