How do you know when a poem is finished?
This is interesting because I see poems as being a snapshot of an idea or a thought. So, in this light, my poems are never “finished”. They may come to an end but that’s simply the end of the written aspect of the poem. The idealisation of the poem goes on, perhaps indefinitely. So when I bring a poem to a close, or, perhaps more accurately, when the poem itself comes to a close, this isn’t necessarily the definitive end of the thought. I like being able to come back to a poem and continue it in a new lighting with a new frame of mind. And when I do put an “end” to a poem, I try to finish it off with a flourish, something memorable that ties it all together or perhaps, paradoxically, leaves the reader in the dark or even more curious about something.
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