Okay, okay ... I know it's a cliche, but sometimes they're the best thing to use because they epitomize what you're talking about, so it makes sense to embrace them, at least once in a while. I've been doing a lot of poetry editing of late, of both my work and my clients' work, and the one thing I'm really noticing, at least in my own, is that sometimes (okay, to be honest, it's most of the time) those lines that you think are just perfect ... they're the ones that have to go.
I'm not sure why this is, but sometimes I suspect that these lines are meant to be the behind the scenes essence of the poem, something that needs to be written, but which shouldn't remain on the page. Sometimes, I'll write a poem that's darling-less, but not often. Usually there are one or two (or more) lines that I look at and say to myself, "This, this is just perfect." Then I cringe, knowing full well that those are the very lines I will likely need to cut. It's amazing, too, the impact that these cuts will have. Somehow, other lines and words that were good, but maybe a bit flat, spring to life. Then, with a bit of pruning of the remaining lines, the poem shines just a bit more brightly.
So give it a try ... take those darlings and push them to the side, and see where your newly bereft poem takes you. And if you can't quite bear to part with your darlings entirely, you can always save them for another day, another poem. I have an entire section of my poetry journal that's devoted to poem-less darlings. What I'll do with them? No idea. BuUt at least they're not entirely gone. ;-)
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