“the answer, as well as a technique”

This article explores the way that practices of copy-editing technical journals, composing poetry, and ecocritical research can complement one another, drawing on individual professional, creative, academic experience. It reports an exercise devised to generate material for a poem by collating edits from copy, works through this compose piece based UK government’s 2018 environment plan. Critical reflections are then offered resultant text value process, with some proposals further application.