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What Happens to Your Abandoned Poems?

in Poetry Discussion

Hey Covers,

We’ve all got them—the poems that start off strong but then fizzle out, or the ones we half-write and just can’t seem to finish. Some sit quietly in a notebook or on a forgotten file, waiting for us to revisit them… or maybe they’re left to gather dust forever!

What’s your process when it comes to unfinished or “abandoned” poems? Do you regularly go back and try to rework them, or do you prefer to leave them be? Have you ever rediscovered an old draft and turned it into something completely new?

I’d love to know how you handle these stray poems. Are they part of your creative process, or do you just move on and write something fresh? Let’s chat about it—maybe you’ll even be inspired to rescue a forgotten gem from your own drawer!

13 comments

Comments (13)

Mark Stevenson

Apr 01

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Mine all live in my head, and a Gogle drive folder called 'unfinsihed poems'. Sometimes a word or a form will spark new life for them, others I will be writing something new then fold the old one into the new in a new way. Many of these latter ones you have read on this forum.

They are a resource, a building block to keep in the storeroom until you find the part it was missing or the hole it fills.

Adam Gary

Apr 02

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Replying to

I find it really REALLY difficult to go back to the table and start working on poems again once the initial spark has died away. I’m not sure if it is my ADHD or a general creative thing.

Herb Hagell

Mar 26

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I encountered a cosmic experience. Well... call it what you will.

I woke at 1:15 in the morning after all of an hour's sleep. A dream called me from slumber. Perhaps a prompt. I chose a group of 5 poems I had written well over a decade ago but not together. Just so you know, they each talked about darkness and depression—The Dark Universe. I asked myself how I got to that set of poems. I searched my files and uncovered a number of poems I considered the Descent to the Dark Universe.

I felt excited by this and continued my search. Another group of poems emerged from the Abandoned Ones—the Ascent. This group of poems follows the poet... yes, the poet... to reclaim his fire. The time ticked by to 8:30 am, and I had assembled a chapbook of poems.. Now, for the interesting part. Over the past couple of months, I've been assembling a collection for a chapbook contest, the efforts of which are ok.

So, to put a chapbook collection together in a few hours leaves me amazed and grateful. Yeah, you want to revisit the graves of old friends and maybe those ghosts will rise.

Mark Keller

Mar 26

Replying to

This is proof that nothing you write is wasted! Somewhere down the line, it will find its own place, in its own time.

Herb Hagell

Mar 24

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I have files called 'Tidbits of...' with thoughts and amazing lines 😂

I brushed off a couple of dozen pieces of eight and created a chapbook I'll submit to a contest this week.

Mark Keller

Mar 24

Replying to

Herb,

I do something similar, only I’ve done a lot of freewriting, most of which is nonsense. However, I keep it in a file called “Junk,” from which I’ve extracted several poems so, you’re spot on when you keep that file! I’ll have to start keeping my poetry duds and plug ‘em into the same file. I had always separated fiction from poetry efforts, but the two are more intertwined than we think. To have excellent prose, poetry infuses it with the magic that make writing come alive!

C.L.A.S

Mar 23

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Such great answers from everyone. I try my best now to complete a poem in its entirety.

I’ll have moments of heightened free flowing inspiration. Where my best poems write themselves. Possibly going back tweaking a word or two, rearranging a few lines/words.

I definitely have a wild field of “forgotten” unfinished thoughts and attempted poems.

I don’t often go back to rediscover what I wrote previously. But sometimes when I do explore those patient budding flowers. I noticed a theme running through..

An exploration of consciousness, mindful “walking” meditation, technology, love, loss, nature, decay (of our human body) and overall triumphant refining 🤍

Mark Keller

Mar 24

Replying to

C.L.A.S.,

That’s a great way to recycle your thoughts and allow them to find their space and a place in your oeuvre! I commend you on gathering your discarded attempts and creating a rich compost pile of usable material! Bravo!

Mark Keller

Mar 23

Poems that fizzle, I let go to their lexical resting places. That’s very easy to do with the computer. However, with pen/pencil and paper, that’s a reason to keep the abandoned efforts, so that they don’t feel so abandoned, but might have the hope of future renewal and/or repurposing.

Herb Hagell

Mar 19

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they slip quietly into the history of broken dreams. Themes bounce around in my head and I look into the lost ones, once in a while and ponder if I can turn them into a chapbook.

The old poems also provide some inspiration to create new directions.

Adam Gary

Mar 21

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Replying to

I hear ya! Sometimes old poems house some great lines we can pluck from and use as titles elsewhere or are better suited in newer works!

Genevieve

Mar 22

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Replying to

Such a poetic first sentence there Herb!

I realized I found myself caught up thinking about what constitutes abandoned… is it only the ones you outright stopped working on or do the little lines and drafts scattered throughout your notes that slowly fall from memory count too? Or were they just part of the process and never meant to be more - part of a creative brainstorming session? Or, what about things you “finish” but never share - and is it abandoned only if you intended or want to share but something stops you?

Then I thought perhaps I was thinking too much haha.

I think ideas I’ve abandoned because I couldn’t get them right or were only partially formed definitely come back around in my writing process - sometimes intentionally because there is a concept or line I like that I want to make work so periodically I dredge it back up and try again, and sometimes because whatever incited the first iteration is still something I want to talk about.

Or perhaps sometimes - you just find a notebook of things you wrote and long since have forgotten about and decide to rewrite one or two. But, I wouldn’t know anything about that. 🙃

Herb Hagell

Mar 24

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Replying to

Poems might feel forgotten, but they ping inside my skull waiting for the great intersection of inspiration and emotion.