I’ve noticed over the years that sometimes your last verse (indeed sometimes the last line) is often your best, the most profound/revelatory of your poems - what comes before almost seeming as simply a specific kind of preparitory contextualization.
I generally start out with just an idea, maybe a theme of some description that I’m trying to work out in my head. And then the poem typically takes over and I have no idea where it’s going to end up. I just tag along for the ride and at some point I more or less just start looking for a way to quit it. Sometimes it’s obvious, other times I have to sit the poem down and come back to it, maybe days later, until something presents itself that’ll make an appropriate ending. I think the ending is key. The ending of any poem ought to be strong enough to get the reader to want to go back through the poem again. I think in some sense if the ending doesn’t do this, the poem has failed.
Always great to have you take the time to stop by, Tab.
