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Putting a collection of poetry together successfully is not simply a question of picking out the last forty or fifty last poems you feel are finished. It requires you to be ruthlessly honest with yourself. If it’s a first book you need to be sure you’re ready for it – that you have at least fifty pages of poems which are strong both in your own judgement and, if at all possible, in the judgement of an experienced writer you trust. Whatever stage you are at you should never include poems you know in your heart of hearts are not your best.

Once you’re confident that you have a strong body of work the arranging of it is extremely important.To make an impact the book needs to have a shape which draws the reader in and offers a sense of progression. There may be a factor which immediately suggests an order, for example if several key poems follow the history of a particular place, the course of an illness or look at different kinds of conflict, these may make a strong starting point. In my book, Multiplying The Moon (Enitharmon) many of the poems were written after my experience of cancer and were influenced by it. I knew the book had to start with the poems about the illness itself.

However, there may be no obvious starting point. If this is the case pick out your key poems and find one you feel will draw the reader in and announce the kind of subject matter you are dealing with. Look for other poems that connect with this which might follow on. Then see if all the poems fall into groups which could form sections of the book. Such groups could be: poems about a relationship, the environment, war, a social issue, the idea of travel etc. If most of the poems fall into a few identifiable groups then consider presenting the book in sections.

If the poems don’t divide easily into sections then, after finding a beginning for the book as I’ve suggested above, you should still find ways of grouping poems even if the links are indirect and the groups are of very varying lengths. You might connect poems which share a similar emotion or idea, have a focus on repression, insects, pollution etc. The next step is to put these groups together so that the shift from one to the next provides a meaningful contrast. In Family Values (Enitharmon), which I recommend, Maureen Duffy begins with several pages of poems which focus on childhood and family members. The last is about the dramatic death of an aunt and it leads to two poems in memory of friends, each written very differently, followed by a poem about visiting a dying friend. She then shifts mood and subject matter to Cows Crossing, which catches the character of cows wonderfully and also has an oblique connection with the previous three poems. This method of linking and making shifts in subject matter is key in ordering poems.

There are one or two other things to consider. Be wary of putting together a large number of poems with a similar focus. If they are not a progression and not clearly adding to each other in some way there could be a danger that they take away from one another. In putting together a first collection, As Birds Do (2008, Second Light Publications), Mary MacRae included several poems in which birds are significant but she deliberately spread them through the book, sometimes in small groups, connecting them by their themes to other poems. Think about using longer poems and sequences to mark shifts in subject matter and give a sense of variety. Be prepared to leave out a poem, however much you like it, if it really doesn’t fit in anywhere. Give particular attention to the end of the book. It should carry some sense of resolution or maybe a sense of moving on elsewhere.

A final point. As poets gain experience they usually pursue particular ideas and think about the theme of their next book. Indeed many poets plan the shape of a book in advance. Mimi Khalvati’s The Meanest Flower (Carcanet) has the theme of flowers running through it and her earlier book, Entries on Light (Carcanet), was written as a book-length sequence. John Burnside’s Gift Songs (Cape) consists of three sequences. While I was writing the poems for Circling The Core I realized its theme was trying to reach the essence of things. This influenced my thinking and what I wrote. Working with subject matter or a theme in mind indicates how to put a collection together. It also helps a poet in the development of her work.

Myra Schneider’s latest collection is Circling the Core, (2008, Enitharmon). She is Consultant to Second Light Network and tutors poetry workshops throughout the UK.

She has recently completed, with John Killick, a resource book of personal writing, Writing Your Self (2009, Continuum).