How do you know when a poem is finished?
This is a really interesting and varied question. No two poems are the same, and sometimes what I think is an ending is actually the launching off point to somewhere better. There will be times that I think a poem is finished. The final image or line seems to lock into place, and I get excited at the prospect of submitting it. When numerous rejections come in, though, and I return to the poem, often I’ll see that my ending is actually standing atop a false bottom. I get to a poem’s true ending when I no longer have the urge to tinker with it. The pieces balance as best as I can balance them, and there’s no way I can describe that feeling other than an innate rightness.
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