Sturgeon's Law

A lot of work going into The Eleventh Muse right now, getting submissions read, acceptances made, contacting the printer, making sure the finances add up, arranging for cover design, going through the contest submissions, etc.

All you editors probably have a number of screen-out factors that let you quickly reject some of the more mediocre submissions from the slush pile. One of my strongest ones (which I see all too often) is an abundance of passive first-person "actions" in narrative (or even worse, in an attempted lyric). I remember, I see, I think, I watch. How many poems with these sorts of phrases wouldn't be made better with their simple removal?