How do you know when a poem is finished?
Language continues, so I’m not sure if there’s a “finished” state, or even if that state is stable. But poetry is patient. For example, a friend just revisited several abandoned “unfinished” poems from twenty years ago, and they realized that with a couple of very minor changes, the pieces were finished… that time and reflection had moved them from abandoned to resolved.
For me the question is: when have I done what I can to be intentional about every aspect of the poem? Which is different from asking whether the poem clicks—some poems get put through their paces and they don’t.
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