How do you know when a poem is finished?
The short answer would be when a poem is accepted for publication. Unless there's a typo, I won't change a poem after that. I know some writers are constantly editing and revising, but that just isn't my style. My own approach is to do most of my editing at the computer as I type a poem. There has been times that I wrote something earlier in the week and when I type it up, I decide it isn't worth sending out as part of a submission. These poems will usually go into a word file and sit for awhile. Sometimes, I'll revisit these poems if they match a theme for a submission, or if I remember to go back to them. I am a terrible poem abandoner. If a poem also gets rejected 3-4 times, I'll often let it sit for awhile. Again, sometimes I come back to these poems, edit them and resubmit, but there have been many poems left to rot on my hard drive. Because I try to write so much, I try not to dwell on poems that can't find a home right away. There have been some pieces that I actually quite liked, but I've let sit or are still sitting because of multiple rejections. These poems might be edited some day, so it would be unfair to call theme “finished.”
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