08-25-2016, 04:33 AM
It's pretty odd to even think of a "greatest hits" if you're still writing -- that's more of a "I'm about to die and my kids will need some money to stop them fighting over who feeds the cat" kind of thing.
The best collections have a common thread, recurring themes or similarity of voice/style. Something that ties them together. There is usually some kind of order to the poems, be it chronological (in theme/concept, not necessarily the order they were written in) or building some logical (or illogical) argument. Many will centre around a pivotal poem and each poem will be chosen to comment on/ complement/ contrast with that piece.
Putting together a collection is a difficult and deliberate thing. It's not too hard to tell when collections have been just thrown together.
As for the number of poems, anything upwards of 20 if they're only short (up to about 50 lines). For haiku, it's going to have to be a bit more
The best collections have a common thread, recurring themes or similarity of voice/style. Something that ties them together. There is usually some kind of order to the poems, be it chronological (in theme/concept, not necessarily the order they were written in) or building some logical (or illogical) argument. Many will centre around a pivotal poem and each poem will be chosen to comment on/ complement/ contrast with that piece.
Putting together a collection is a difficult and deliberate thing. It's not too hard to tell when collections have been just thrown together.
As for the number of poems, anything upwards of 20 if they're only short (up to about 50 lines). For haiku, it's going to have to be a bit more
It could be worse