Swep Lovitt isn’t in any hurry – about hispoetry, that is.

    The current Brookhaven resident writes slowly and deliberatelyuntil he is pleased with his poems, some of which have been inprogress for 20 years.

    His publishing pace seems to be picking up a little, though. Lovitthas seen his second volume of poetry recently published.

    The Texas Review Press released “Sometimes the World is TooBeautiful” in late October.

    The book is divided into two parts. The first half collects poemsfrom Lovitt’s previous volume of poetry, “A Boy’s Face With SwanWings,” published in 2004 by UKA Press. The poems in the secondhalf are new.

    Lovitt has been writing long before either of the books became apublished reality.

    “I’ve fooled with poetry every day of my life for the last 30years,” Lovitt said.

    He began writing poetry at 20 and published his first poem in aliterary magazine at 22. Poetry has been with him ever since.

    Lovitt said he does not aim to be prolific. In his writing, hecontinually revises he work, letting it sit and gestate over manyyears, sometimes as many as 20 or 25.

    “I learned to write those poems by working on them again andagain,” Lovitt said. “You’ve got forever to get them right. There’sno demand for poetry.”

    The process means Lovitt almost always has several poems inprogress, always beginning with pen and paper before moving to thecomputer. He can’t predict when he might sit down to work onone.

    “Poetry is any time of the day or night,” Lovitt said.

    Lovitt doesn’t hesitate to give up on a poem if feels he hasreached a dead-end with it and estimates he has thrown away around150 poems.

    This process of culling through the poems he has written mirrorsthe goal Lovitt has for each individual poem: Distillation.

    “I want to distill each poem to its essence,” Lovitt said.

    “Density” is another word Lovitt uses to describe that goal.

    His process moved a little faster with his most recent work,though. The poems in his 2004 volume were selected from 30 years ofwriting, whereas the poems new to his 2011 collection were writtenfrom 2005 to 2010.

    Changes in his lifestyle partially account for this increasedspeed.

    “I was lot busier before, involved in raising a family, making aliving,” Lovitt said.

    However, Lovitt said the new poems were also been composed withmore urgency because they were a response to circumstances in hislife.

    “These poems were occasioned by so many things coming to an end: a30-year marriage, my boys growing up, my mother’s death,” saidLovitt. “I wanted to deal with it all and lay it all out.”

    Though the poems may be personal and autobiographical in nature,Lovitt doesn’t consider the process complete until a reader hasseen his work.

    “I write poems for people to interact with,” he said.

    There is an element of unpredictability to this interaction.

    “It’s kind of like a message in a bottle,” Lovitt said.

    Those interested in ordering Lovitt’s book can do so through theTexas Review Press or by contacting Lovitt at 901-603-6917.