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Trying to revise a poem this morning, and the ending is a mess. When this happens, I sometimes try out the four different endings types offered by Stanley Kunitz (as passed along by Marie Howe, so there's a definite possibility of some telephone game errors on my part). 1/5
Circular: You bring back a word, image, or idea that was introduced earlier in the poem. Rita Dove's "Dusting" does this beautifully. https://bit.ly/2ALKwfz
Dialectic: You reach for something larger than what has come before. An epiphany of sorts, though that's a bit reductive. Wisdom? Here's Ada Limón's "The Conditional" https://bit.ly/2ZTwmBD
Linear: If there's a story element, you tell us what happened. Joanie Mackowski's "One Afternoon" https://bit.ly/2AJBDD4
Imagistic: I sort of made up this term (it means something else in the poetry universe), but Kunitz was known for saying "End on an image, and don't explain it." For example, Lucie Brock-Broido's "You Have Harnessed Yourself Ridiculously to This World" https://bit.ly/2O8Lm98
