In my earlier days of writing poetry I had a very fixed view on when a poem was finished or not and once I had 'let it fly' so to speak, I would never change it.

Many years later I have recently found myself re-looking at old work and re-writing it and (to my mind) significantly improving it.

This led me to think whether this was typical practice or not amongst poets? Does anyone have a view?

A very good subject for discussion, Graham. WH Auden, apparently paraphrasing the French poet Paul Valery, said: 'A poem is never finished, only abandoned.' At the beginning of the year we reviewed a book called The Process of Poetry, where a number of leading poets discussed in interviews their different drafting and re-drafting methods https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=133371

An interesting point, Graham. I tend to make changes to poems in the days and weeks after I write them, although once they have been posted or published, I usually refrain from further editing. Having said that, I'm sure that my old work (going back to 2003) could benefit from revising; it's just having the time to get round to it!

I see my earlier work as a style in development and now seem to significantly reduce the wordiness of poems written fifteen years ago or so. I think every word need to say something if possible.