Onto the far wall

I create imaginary

fanciful décor

to satisfy my 

perfection compulsion

to order everything

to place objects

in spaces whose effects 

may please the eye.

Walls so covered do not breathe.

“Leave them bare” I threaten

and when the impulse

beckons like a drug

I should let go and find the beauty

elsewhere

like in the imperfections

of dried paint, bubbled

solidified as white embossed

on white.

The Abstract Expressionists

must have seen this

as they swept away the past

completely 

leaving scratches, undefined

explosions of shape, color, 

non-confirming minutiae adorning 

the nature of paint on walls.

Yet, content with status

no wall of habit ends.

Interesting poem in which the idea of decoration has analogies with the process of writing itself. This could, however, be made more explicit in the poem. There is potential for the narrative “I” to undergo more of a transformation than is evident here currently.  

Suggestions:

• Capitalize “walls” in the title
• Have all stanzas have the same number of lines: currently 9, 10, 10.
• “On the far wall”—of what? Create a specific location for the poem. 
• “imaginary / fanciful décor”—I’d rather “see” the décor than be have it be described generally—specifics would work well here.  
• Delete “perfection”—“to satisfy my / compulsion / to order everything” reads better. 
• “to place objects/in spaces whose effects/may please the eye”—as a reader, I’d like to know more specifically what those intended “effects” are. Consider an unexpected, specific adjective in front of “effects.”
• “Walls so covered do not breathe”—this seems to be an inner voice to counter the “I” in the first stanza, but, again, as a reader, I would like to know what “so covered” means. I’d like to have that refer to something visual and specific. 
• “Leave them bare” is the “I” responding. Rather than have the “I” in italics, I think the inner voice should be in italics. I prefer

Walls so covered do not breathe.
“Leave them bare,” I threaten.

• “and when the impulse/beckons like a drug”—“beckons” is too mild a word to be associated with the addictive pull of a drug. 
• “and when the impulse/beckons like a drug/I should let go and find the beauty/elsewhere”—the logic is confused here. There’s a piece of the argument missing. The idea seems to be “When the impulse to cover the walls asserts itself, I should resist the impulse and instead look for beauty elsewhere.”
• “find the beauty/elsewhere”—the use of the phrase “the beauty” here feels too abstract. Tweak the phrase perhaps to soften and enliven it.
• “like in the imperfections/of dried paint, bubbled/solidified as white embossed/on white”—the specifics here are very good. Delete “like”—it’s unnecessary. Delete “the” also. 
• If this were me, I’d go for one precise image: “in imperfections/of dried/white paint”; “bubbled,” “solidified” and “embossed” are all implied in “imperfections” of paint. 
• “The Abstract Expressionists/must have seen this”—very good. Echo of Auden in “Musee des Beaux Arts.”
• “as they swept away the past”—I’m not sure the Abstract Expressionists really did sweep away the past. That’s an arguable point. Can you insert an adjective before “past” to make the phrase more pointed, more argumentative, more memorable? 
• Delete “completely”—it doesn’t add anything. Let “Swept away” do its work.
• “leaving scratches, undefined / explosions of shape, color,”—good. I particularly like the use of “explosions.” Is there a better alternative to “undefined”? “Amorphous” perhaps? 
• “non-confirming minutiae”—not sure what “non-confirming” refers to. Typo for “non-conforming”? Confused by the phrase. “Minutiae” is too abstract—I’d like a specific detail in its place. Give an example, perhaps, of the Abstract Expressionist style.
• “adorning” is too precious a word here—find a replacement. 
• “adorning/the nature of paint on walls.”—the logic here is tangled. Surely the “explosions of shape, color” “adorn” the walls themselves, not “the nature of paint on walls.” If another idea is meant, it is not expressed clearly enough for the reader, and the clause should be revised.
• “Yet, content with status”—good phrase, but perhaps expand or explain this “status.” Is “status quo” meant? Comma is unnecessary and should be deleted. It blocks the line and the connection between “yet” and “content.” 
• “no wall of habit ends”—that’s an interesting ending phrase and idea. “wall of habit” is not immediately decipherable but is resonant in the poem, bringing the reader back to stanza one. I’d like the idea, however, to be clarified or expanded on. What is really happening at the end of this poem? Is the “I” going back to the compulsion of decorating with “pleasing effects”? If so, the speaker has learned nothing in the second and third stanzas. Shouldn’t there be some sort of transformation effected here? I’d like to see the lessons of the Abstract Expressionists be exhibited in this poem. Similarly, the qualities of Abstract Expressionism could be worked more specifically into the language choices in this poem.