How Do You End a Poem?

One of my 4th grade students asked this question. I told him it was a great question with lots of possible answers. I posed to question to my friends on Facebook. Here are some of their responses. More here.

“With a whimper, not a bang.” -Shawnte Orion

“With some concrete truth that ties together any imagery in your poem.” -Catherine Conley

“You don’t.” -Charles Kruger

“Without a bow.” -Kelly Cressio-Moeller

“I don't know if I have a concrete response. It's sort of like asking, How do you know that it’s love?... I don't think I've ever thought, oh it’s time to end this poem. I just know that it is. The ending usually presents itself…and I just know…” -Janette Schafer

“When it feels like you have nothing more left to say.” -Nandini Dhar

“With a line that leaves the reader with a sense of wonder, emotion, or satisfaction.” -Donna Vorreyer

“By beginning the next one.” -Adam Atkinson

“In my experience, the best ending in my poetry is the line before the last line.” -Ronnie K. Stephens

“With a good strong word. One syllable if possible. On a strong stress.” -Jennifer Swanton

“…let the last line leave an impression in the reader's mind. A strong image or emotion.” -Rie Sheridan Rose

“Write past the last line. Then go back and find the real last line later.” -Martha Pauline

“Close the door or leave it a tad bit open! One of those. Never leave it all the way open.” -Teresa Petro

LitShare: Book Shelfies and Looks of Agony

One week left to submit to the 30 Day Poetry Challenge anthology. Also, Flycatcher wants your place-based writing.

Photography Jill Peters documents Albanian women who live as men for political reasons.

Vicki Hudson has two beautiful poems over at Ditch. Excellent use of space and movement. Kudos to Ditch for showcasing these poems faithfully.

Bookshelf selfies, anyone?

Neil Gaiman says it all about storytelling and reading and life and living.

Don't use these opening lines by Emily Dickinson as pickup lines. Unless you like attracting people who are turned on by, "I like a look of agony."

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Poetry About Outer Space

Helix Nebula - Unraveling at the Seams

Since a handful of people keep landing on my little blog trying to find poems about the final frontier, I figured I'd help you, dear poetry seeker, by sending you in the right direction with some useful links. I hope you find this helpful. If you find any other great sites feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll update this post on occasion. I wish you all a happy intergalactic poetry adventure!

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1) The Poetry Foundation is a great starting place when you are looking for poems about a certain topic, written by a certain poet, written during a particular time period, in a particular style, and more. I've already searched for poems by Subject: Nature: Stars, Planets, Heavens, which gives you over 200 results. You can continue to narrow down this search by using the handy search feature on the left. For example, if you wanted outer space poems written in the 19th century or kid-friendly outer space poems (under "Other Options" then select "are good for children"), you can filter for either or both of those. You can also look for examples of a particular type, form, or even literary device.

2) The American Academy of Poets also has a less extensive archive of poems. You'll want to select the Advanced Search option from the main page, then use the "Theme" drop down and select "Space" to find about 20 poems. Again, I've done the search already, because I'm cool like that. You also have the option to browse by title and first line, if you're looking for a particular poem.

3) The Poetry Out Loud website has an online anthology of poems that qualify for their national annual recitation contest. This archive is alphabetical by title or poet and has no browsing or filtering functions. You can, however, search the whole site using the search box in the top right corner of the site. If you search for things like "stars" or "space" or "planet" you will find links to poems, though not all of them will be. But don't overlook some of the video performances from past finalists; these have a power all their own and are worth at least a viewing. You can also listen to poetry recitations.

A List Post Seems Manageable

• I decided to jump on the National Novel Writing Month bandwagon with a bunch of other poets. We're all just writing poems. I like it. Four down, including a pantoum!
• There have been a couple reviews of Braiding the Storm: one on Amazon and another by Donna Vorreyer. I'm grateful for both of these and look forward to future critiques.
• Since I decided to stop confusing anxiety with hunger, I've been eating much less. I've been using My Fitness Pal to help track my meals and movement. Sal is on there too, so it's the only social network he uses. So far he's lost 25 pounds in three months. I've lost six so far, five in the past week. I think that's water weight, but I'm not sure. We'll see what happens when I go to Bloated PMS Village later this week.
• Two poems recently appeared in Issue 17 of The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review. I have a lot to say about my poem Red Stone. I'm not ready to say it yet though. Also a lovely translation by Nic Wong. 
• I start teaching a new class soon. Sixth grade. I'm not nervous, but more aware that these kids have much different needs. Anyone have tips on engaging middle school students?
• I'm reading next week for Lyrics and Dirges along with an amazing line-up of writers. November 15th at Pegasus Books in Downtown Berkeley. You should come.
• I'm still at a loss when it comes to making good friends here in the Bay Area. I have lots of people I like and hang with every now and then. But no besties. I need a best friend finding service. Or maybe I've maxed my quote of best friends allowed in a lifetime (so many wonderful friends! come visit me!)
• Opened a retirement account this week. I've already lost $21! So I got that going for me.
• I'm a bit burned out and I've fallen completely off-track with my marketing plan for Braiding the Storm. I think my next Chapbook Rookie post will be about the realities (i.e.: difficulties) with promoting a book mostly on your own.
• I sent a Poet Who's Inspired Me a copy of Braiding the Storm. She sent me a lovely thank you post card back. I must pinch myself. Here's a picture of it. Below that is poet and friend D. Gilson holding my chapbook. He's adorable.

much love to Mr. Gilson!