[noun] /ˌmɑː.dʒɪˈneɪ.li.ə/Notes made in the margins of a document or book.
Idlewild
Cassie SistosoCassie Sistoso’s “Idlewild” is a poem about what it feels like to lose control of your own life. It takes the image of a house flooding while its occupants are miles away, oblivious, and holds it against the slowly unfolding catastrophe of an abusive relationship.
For our Marginalia series, we ask poets to take us behind the scenes into their revision process. Cassie shares her first and final drafts, with her own annotations on what she changed and why. In a Q&A at the end, she gives advice based on her own experiences of drafting and revising.
Tap a highlighted line to read the annotation.
First draft
Final draft
In conversation with Cassie
How much time passed between writing your first and final draft?
I wrote the first draft the first summer of my MFA in 2024 based on a writing prompt given by my poetry professor, Tiana Clark, about writing into memory and place as one. This final iteration appeared in my poetry thesis, in August 2026.
What changed most between the first and final drafts?
A lot of the images here got rearranged from the order in which they were felt, and many images got cut. It was a shame to kill my darlings here – the little red debit card, the Indian Spirits burning holes in the couch, the vodka infused blouse.
What advice would you give someone sitting down to write a first draft?
Write it down immediately. I have a bad habit of shoo-ing off my poet voice when she comes to me with images or ideas, because I’m busy! Come back later! I’m at work, in the shower, falling asleep. But I have found I always use those first inklings and gibberish notes to myself for later.
What advice would you give someone trying to turn a first draft into a final poem?
Your poem, like you, contains multitudes. It could live a life in so many formats and versions. It’s not about getting it right, necessarily; it’s really only about hanging out with your poems until they arrange themselves in a way that makes you want to carry them around in your pocket for a while.
About the poet
Cassie Sistoso is a recent poetry MFA graduate of Sewanee School of Letters, and also holds degrees in Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies. She currently lives in Eugene, Oregon.
