cut it

Poet, don’t end the poem—just cut it.

driven home

The throughline of the poem ended with a last line that was a stake in the ground.

dissolving lines

A poem that was dissolving in the mind even before you reached the last line.

to the brim

Think of the last line as a brim not to breach. Or a brim that overflows only in the reader's mind.

is foundation

When you reach the last line you should feel it as foundation for the whole poem.

stop short

Look for that preemptive ending that undercuts any temptation toward a grand concluding flourish.

first to last

From the first line you couldn’t have foreseen the last.

cards play themselves

That last line, lay it down like a full house or straight flush.

bridge too far

He wanted to review poetry books but couldn’t imagine reading a bad one to the last line.

unexpected inevitable

The last line should at first be unexpected but then be inevitable.

first or last

The first line of the poem should have been the last.

being sharpened

As you read the poem you could hear the poet whetting a last line.

second ending

When the poem ends on an expected note, try adding just one more line but one that comes to rest at a slight angle to what was said before.

Example from the ending of Al Purdy’s “"The Last Picture in the World”:

            almost sculpture
   except that it's alive
   brooding immobile permanent
   for half an hour
   a blue heron
   and it occurs to me
   that if I were to die at this moment
   that picture would accompany me
   wherever I am going
   for part of the way

Notice how easily the poet may have settled for the ending “wherever I am going,” but the addition of the phrase “for part of the way,” undercuts the certainty and leaves the poem in a less measurable state.

better end

How hard it is to hear the end of poem as it happens. Often it’s easy to see how the poet wrote past a better ending.

wow and yes

Nothing better than a last line that is both unexpected and inevitable.

end or beginning

Was it the last line of this poem, or the first line of the next?

go on from here or end

A poem whereby any line from here on could be either the next line or the last.

sense of an ending

Sometimes the poem must end on an unsatisfying last line.

no answer

A last line has no answer.

interchangeable counterparts

Titles and last lines are more alike than different. Typically both try to do too much.