slalom pole

A line break for a poet is like a slalom pole—you have to hit the turn without plowing over it.

turn to poetry

Note to celebrities who turn to poetry: Leave it to the poets, those language toilers who will never have the least measure of your fame.

on two wheels

Should one hesitate at the end of the line or make the turn on two wheels.

tail that stuck

Each successive turn of a line tried to shake the poem’s subject matter.

roadways

A line that was a dark alley. A line that was a hairpin turn. A line that was a blind curve. A line that was an on-ramp. A line that was a work zone. A line that was the last exit before the toll. A line that stretched to a vanishing point. A line that was a dead end.

head turning sentence

An aphorism should turn a head.

like air

reading is often a big help
but wherever you turn
you are surrounded by language
like the air

—John James, “A Theory of Poetry,” Poets on Writing: Britain, 1970-1991 (Macmillan Academic and Professional, Ltd, 1992) edited by Denise Riley

until it turns

A poetic line begins but doesn’t have a known end, until it turns.

eyes open and aware

Turn a line of poetry as you would turn a corner in a part of the town you don’t know.

run over

That pang of disappointment felt when you turn a page expecting another poem, only to realize that the one you were reading hasn’t ended.

blind curve

Though dangerous when driving, a blind curve is sought after when writing/reading a line of verse.

lean into the corner

All one expects of the word at the end of a line is that it holds the corner.

no outlet

You knew at the turn, the line was going to be a dead-end. Still, you had to drive to the very end, get out and look around.

line, angle, speed & show factor

You could watch his line 'drift' as he headed into the turn.

no turning point

Prose poet: one whose lines run but won’t turn.

definitely averse

A line that won’t be turned easily.

straight line

Aphorism: a verse that won’t be turned.

not this or that

A poem that met your expectations by denying them at every turn.

anachronistic turn

The kind of line break so fashionable back in the day, you thought you could hear the faint echo of a carriage return bell at the turn.

no return point

From a certain point on, there is no more turning back. That is the point that must be reached.

—Franz Kafka, The Zürau Aphorisms (Schocken Books, 2006), translated by Michael Hofmann