[Michael P. McManus]

Alicia,

Quick question; does the ending for your poems ever arrive to you before the begining? which would entail of course, almost writing in reverse. I've always wondered if this happens to other writers, because it seems to happen to me quite frequently in both formal and free verse.

Peace,

Mike.

[A. E. Stallings]

Dear Mike,

Good question. I dread when a last line or couplet comes to me before a poem (and I have notebooks of these!). It is much harder to "write back" to a beginning. I have rarely managed it successfully.

I think my best work usually results from a good beginning, and then I write "blind" until I hit something which suddenly I realize is an ending. It is often something completely unexpected. (Although I may at first have written a stanza beyond, and have to cut back to it. Recognizing true endings and beginnings takes some practice.) I think Frost commented on poem's whose last lines come first: no surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader. I'd agree with that. Mind you, though, I think discovery can still be made in "writing backwards." I just think it is a lot harder.

However, sometimes an ending will reveal itself as I'm about half-way or three-quarters through (often the case with a sonnet) and I have something to write towards.

Alicia