I’m good at last lines. I really am.
The rest of my poems are crap but my last lines
Are really something.
I’m thinking of bringing out a book called ‘My Fifty Best Last Lines’.
The trouble is it’d be like bringing out a book of punch lines without the jokes.
‘By gum, I wish I could do that’ or ‘It’s okay for you two. I have to walk out by myself’ fall a bit flat without the jokes attached.
I suppose I could make the rest of the poems as good as the last lines but it’s a pretty big ask.
Now I can’t even get a good last line to this poem.
John Malone 
Last lines are definitely key, I think. Until I have found a good last line, the poem just feels like an unfinished sentence. So I think, to be good at last lines is a pretty awesome talent. But I think all writers have favourite lines in their poems and wonder if they could chuck out the rest. But you can’t. You need the rest. It’s like… it’s like how they put medicine in capsules. The whole capsule isn’t the medicine but the capsule makes the medicine easier to take. Or saying “Oh these containers are a waste of space on this ship. We’ll just carry the goods that are in them and do away with all those heavy metal boxes”. It would be a) chaotic and b) everything would probably get damaged.
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thanks, Worms; they are useful analogies 🙂
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Last lines of a poem, last chapters, punchlines … they can’t stand on their own. You do very well with your first, middle and last lines. 🙂
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thanks Eden; it’s great when they all come together 🙂
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I agree with Worms above, last lines are key. And I agree with you, building up to them is the difficult part. But man, do I really love a good last line.
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it is critical in a joke and a comedic poem; otherwise the poem becomes a bit of a joke 🙂
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actually, I’ve noticed you are indeed very good with your last lines, something that often eludes me
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I used to have ambitions — talk about bucket lists — of being a stand-up comedian but I was no good at remembering lines — I still don’t know how they do it — so turned to writing instead 🙂
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I’d say you jinxed it but it’s kinda the perfect last line for this poem. Can’t say what I’d like to perfect more the first of the last. Guess the first has got to have something or they’ll never make it to the last. Lots of fun, John, thanks.
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as you know, every line’s important but none as much as the first which hooks the reader, and the last which leaves the reader with the frisson of being on an exhilarating verbal ride 🙂 yeeha !!
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Finish strong, Right? Wise words. Don’t know if Incan live up to them but I’ll try. Cheers!
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you do a pretty good job; I wouldn’t worry — and anyway , you don’t have to be perfect every time 🙂
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Of course, twitch, twitch. 😉
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Last lines – yep, sometimes I have no idea where my poem is going until the last line and then boom – it just fixes everything
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it’s like that old Buddhist adage: you don’t know where you’re going till you get there 🙂
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Exactly.
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I know your last lines are well-written. I have been reading them for several weeks. To me once I have the last line in a chapter or book or blog done right, the rest of the work just takes anything from a meat axe to a tiny scissors to edit. The last line, if done well, motivates me for that editing.
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I agree; it is like the punch line of a joke: it nails what goes before —
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What a great first line, John!
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thanks, Hobbo: but it’s the last line that worries me: if it is weak it can NULLIFY the poem —
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“The rest of my poems are crap but my last lines
Are really something.”
Crap huh? 😂😂😂😂 what rot, you do make me chuckle so. 🤗😘
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thanks Juliette: I sometimes think that 😦
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My favourite last line,,,
She turned, frowned, and said, “Guess I’ll take apple then.”
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famous last words 🙂 what happened in the garden should have stayed in the garden 🙂
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Last lines are so much harder for me than the first lines! You do a great job, John. Even the last line here sums up the meaning of the post nicely! 🙂🙃
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yes, I was lucky: that last line fell into place 🙂
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This made me laugh. Maybe you could put all the last lines together and make a poem out of that. That would be deep and contemplative. Figuring out the intended meaning. Haha. 🙂
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now that is an idea: a mish-mash of last lines that just might work 🙂
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Well, mine was about mashed potatoes, so you’ve got to be better than that!
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hahaha; will have a look at this one 🙂
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You did already!
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so I did; forgettful me 😦
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