You Can Write Poetry - Jeff Mock [50]
A third type of ending makes "a prophetic or apocalyptic statement." It's a grand revelation, a sweeping statement, and it's a difficult ending to write. The subject and the poem's treatment of it must be weighty, a serious subject deserving a majestic, heightened ending. Kumin calls this ending "a grand clash of cymbals." If the poem doesn't build to such an ending, it's a loud, misplayed note. Sylvia Plath was adept at these endings. Her poem "Lady Lazarus," about an attempted suicide and the pain and anger that led to such an extreme emotional state, ends on a prophetic note: "Out of the ash / I rise with my red hair / And I eat men like air." "Lady Lazarus" makes use of both hyperbole and understatement. It exaggerates and dismisses. It imitates the severe mood swings of deep manic depression. In its final lines, it rises again to the majestic, sweeping statement, "a grand clash of cymbals."
The fourth ending Kumin notes offers "an aggressive shift of balance at the end, closing the door with an unexpected shiver, the shiver of recognition we undergo when the line or lines are apt, however surprising." Such an ending is in perfect keeping with the poem, but it takes a sudden turn, one the reader doesn't see coming. Here's a poem by Walt Whitman that ends on a sudden turn:
ARE YOU THE NEW PERSON DRAWN TOWARD ME?
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
To begin with take warning, I am surely far different from what you suppose;
Do you suppose you will find me your ideal?
Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
Do you think the friendship of me would be unalloy'd satisfaction?
Do you think I am trusty and faithful?
Do you see no further than this façade, this smooth and tolerant manner of me?
Do you suppose yourself advancing on real ground toward a real heroic man?
Have you thought O dreamer that it may be all maya, illusion?
The poem deals with expectations, our best hopes and fondest wishes. Line after line asks about our expectations, then the final line turns suddenly aside to question the expectations themselves. The poem leads us one way, then turns sharply, to our surprise.
As with good openings, good endings often require numerous drafts, each one trying something different. Does the poem end best on an image? Does it end best on a metaphor? Does it end best directly or obliquely? Does it end best by circling back to its beginning or by turning suddenly aside? Then it requires more drafts to phrase it just right. Write several endings, give yourself options, and select the best ending for the poem.
PRACTICE SESSION
1. Write a draft about a small act, such as starting a lawnmower, baiting a hook, pouring a cup of coffee, et cetera. Emphasize each step of the physical activity in precise detail. End the draft by casually mentioning an important moral, political or social concern.
2. Write a draft in the persona of someone famous (actual or fictional) recalling an event from his or her childhood. Recreate that person's voice, or invent an appropriate voice. End the draft with a prophetic statement.
3. Write a draft about a personal experience (return to your important decisions from the practice session in chapter seven). Invent details as needed to create a dramatic monologue. Don't stick to the literal truth. Precede the ending with a simile describing the decision. End the draft with an understatement.
4. Write a draft in which the final line reiterates an earlier line. Include four internal rhymes, four end rhymes and a power tool.
Revision: The Spit and Polish
Taped on the wall above my writing desk is a comic strip, "Non Sequitur," that I clipped from a newspaper. It's a single horizontal frame. On the far left a mob,