1. When you revise, what does your process look like—from first pass to final polish? 

Sometimes I feel that "first breath is best breath," but usually I am an incessant editor of my own work -- I am my harshest critic.  Sometimes I change only a few words, while at others I simply keep a few lines and start over. Paul Valery believed a poem is never finished, only abandoned, and I understand this sentiment completely.

2. What’s on your nightstand right now—anything you’re currently reading (or meaning to start)?  

I'm currently reading The Essential Kabbalah and re-reading the Collected Poems of Alan Dugan.  I recently finished Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy and the poems of Wisława Szymborska.  I often flip through a Dictionary of Symbols.  I am drawn to Eastern European poets, so there are many I've read and reread.

3. When you sit down to write, what’s your writing process—how do you go from idea to finished draft?   

My process is that I take plenty of notes from a variety of sources, whether it's a paragraph, sentence, phrase, idea, or even one word.  I cogitate on certain notes and at some point sit down to write, pencil on paper, trying to create an "emotional landscape" usually consisting of feelings and and the natural world.  I try to get a first draft down before I stop.  I move on, but then I revisit and revise, which can take a while.  For example, I have over a dozen edits on a long poem, rewritten several parts, and I'm still not satisfied.

4. Anything else we should know - upcoming book, personal website? 

I am writing a cycle of poems based on a what I understand to be a major part of who I am, as well as writing steadily for what I hope will morph into a chapbook or full-length book.

Michael Ferch is an attorney in New York City.  He holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Columbia University.  His work was published in Epiphany Magazine many years ago.