What Can I Do?

For about 3 or 4 weeks now i can't seem to finish a poem. I get maybe four lines into the poem, and I just get stumped. I won't be able to write anyhing else. It's so aggravating. Can someone please give me some tips on how to get over this?

Spin around untill something flies out of your head.

Then slap it on a piece of paper and you got yourself a poem :O

That happens to me all the time i can write the best start of a poem and then can never finish it :P
i dont know what you can to do to help fix it, but i can say this one day you will just being doing something and you will think of the perfect way to end or continue the poem- its happened to me a few times

Sometimes it's just writer's block. Sometimes it can be you're trying to hard. Just play around with the poem instead of seriously trying to get it 'perfect', have fun with it, even if it's not in the direction you originally planned it to go and sometimes the poem will finds it's own way. Try writing it a different way from the very start (sometimes we must edit out a line or phrase that just don't seem to be working, even though there is nothing wrong with what is being removed or rewritten, but save everything-it could come in use in another poem). Or try just re-writing certain parts. It is more important to find what works for the poem, not just what works for you (though often the two things can be the same, which is when things really come together, but sometimes they don't. Your words are not written in stone). This is an important part of being a poet-becoming your own personal editor.

Or, like I've done with a lot of pieces, put it aside for awhile, let it breathe, take a step away from it and when you come back to it you may see it in a new light or different perspective and that could spark off new ideas, a new direction or even resolve the problem area. Work on another poem, come back to the 'troubled' one at a later time.

I also always keep notebooks of rough drafts, various lines, stanzas or fragments of poems, even an interesting, unusual or intriguing word or two (which is a good habit to get into), sometimes I find something in those notebooks that fit a piece I am currently working on. I have a lot of 'failed' (as in terrible!) poems in those notebooks, but even in the bad poems is an occassional phrase or line that is good, or maybe the concept or emotion of the poem is good, just not the way I've written it.

I had one poem ('And Always I Dream Alone'-if you read it, it's not that outstanding, but it meant a lot to me and haunted me as if demanding to be given life), a fairly short piece that I rewrote dozens of times over years and it finally came together after adding and altering/rewriting a more recent 'fragment'. Finally I was content with the poem, but from the original rough draft to the point I was finally happy with the poem took a long time, a lot of patience and frustration-from start to ultimate finish it took me ten years almost to the day to write that poem (of course I didn't work on it continuously-just took it out now and then and worked on it).

I forget who it was that said "a poem is never finished, it is just abandoned", a lot of poets feel that way even though to others the poem seems perfect.

I know I am seldom 100% content with my work. And I learned long ago, after writing a first or rough draft of a poem and would think it is fantastic! This is one of the best things I've written! and then reading it a few days, weeks, even months later I see it's not nearly as great as I thought before or I'll see mistakes I made or ways to improve it (I use to joke to poet friends that I eventually hate all my poems, which is definitely not true), wether by changing a word or two or revising /editing it extensively (another poem of mine 'Lucius' was originally a two page poem that I drastically (and painfully) reduced to a 5 line poem, and it is still one of my favorites because of that change).

I have many poems I've revised months and even years after what I had all along considered finished pieces. It is not always easy to cut or change something you have written, that is why it is so important to give the poem some time after first writing it and then coming back to it with a more critical eye.

As I said, let the poem breathe and sometimes it will almost write itself when you come back to it. I can think of no good poets, professional or amateur, who wrote perfect first drafts, almost every poem should be re-wrote at least once if not many more times. Although the initial creation of a piece is the best part of writing a poem, another part of being a poet is the editing, revising and rewriting.

You will know when it is done.
And even if you don't, often the poem will.

Peace, Poetry & Power,

Gary Jurechka

Sometimes through the day... i randomly think of perfect bits to go into a poem.. and i either type it into my phone or write it down.... then I play around with what ive come up with.. sometimes it turns out great.. and sometimes not so great.. but nothing can be perfect...

just dont try too hard.. have fun with it.. and dont push yourself... =]
xxx

Okay, thanks! : )

I can write again!!! they probably arent good, but i spat out a few. im still working on them, please give me any constructive criticism that can help me improve on them, it would be very much appreciated, thanks.
Kimberly

I'm glad it's going better for ya!

But if you ever have that problem again, you should save each poem and put them in an "Unfinished" folder.

Michael gave me that idea, and it has helped me so much... cause then you can go back and look at the poems later & suddenly you're able to think of the perfect ending to them.

Quote - "I can write again!!! they probably arent good, but i spat out a few. im still working on them, please give me any constructive criticism that can help me improve on them, it would be very much appreciated, thanks.
Kimberly"

I think that every one who love to write will eventually search for more ways to do it...In grammar you will find a lot of things that can and probably will help you...such as metaphors, vocabulary, phonetics...when it comes to write all we can learn about grammar is good. i'm not saying to get a english diploma....lol... but if you are trying to improve your writtng skills a little bit of grammar knowledge will not hurt... :)

be good...

Actually..that happens to me to.
i end up coming back to it a couple days later
or sumtimez, i write a few lines but they end up out of order in my poems

Wait a while...its probably writers block.
Once you forget about it something will justt jump out at you.

Go on a nature walk and observe things until it hits you. It will. Keep up the work.

Save what you have written. Give it a thought. The rest of the poem, will come to you.

When i have writer's block i just write randomly, don't worry about it making sense just write what you feel, and hopefully after you do that you will be able to put it all together to make a poem. Hope that helps. Shanik

Keep the beginnings of the poem, bury them up in a few weeks, see if you then can write a good ending.

Think of the rest like a story then finish it up... or mix up the beginnings and make them into one poem

Well i cant really tell you what to do but i can tell that when i am writing i like to go out to a park were it is quite or some where in general that is quite but there is alot of activity going on and that usually helps me

If a poem doesn't come, I just let it rest. SOmetimes it needs time to "mature". Get it off your mind. After a few days/weeks/months, take it out and read it. This is very refreshing and it lets you see it from a critic's point of view. Perhaps by then something in you (or in the poem) would have changed and you'll be able to finish it.

Dig deep man. i hate getting writers block, i know exactly how you feel

I know it will surely pass..

I agree

Lol im laughing cos i know exactly what you mean, i get that but it does go away, just take a break for a whiel it will help. xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dont give up just keep trying

Even if you must start a new poem, just go for it instead! Just keep going even you have to climb for something else, because that may be even better.