u/Fluffy--Mouse

This is something I genuinely can't figure out. I'll write a draft and it feels complete. Then I read it two days later and it feels like it needs more. So I add something. Then it feels overcrowded. So I cut. Then I'm back to something close to the original and I don't know if that means the original was right or if I've just gone in a circle.

I've read that you're supposed to "trust your instincts" but my instincts change depending on the time of day and how I'm feeling about myself generally.

Is there a signal experienced poets look for that tells them a poem is done? Or is it more of a letting-go decision than a quality decision? I'm starting to wonder if I'm using revision as a way to avoid finishing anything.

I never thought of myself as a poetry person. I was a spreadsheets person. A lists person. Then something happened in January that I wasn't able to talk about out loud and I started writing in a notes app at 2am just to have somewhere to put it.

Four months later I have 40 poems and I still haven't shown a single one to anyone. I'm not sure they're good. I'm not sure good is even the point. But the writing has become the only place where I say exactly what I mean without editing it for the comfort of whoever I'm saying it to.

I'm curious if other people found poetry this way - sideways, through something difficult - rather than through school or a love of literature. And whether that origin shapes the kind of poet you become.

felt super exposed after posting, like “why did i even do this”. but then a few comments came in and it felt worth it. still scary every time tho