The paper is an attempt to interpret the manuscript versions of the Last Poem. I focus on what comprises the avant-text of the poem which engages in various relationships and affiliations with the final version, thus co-creating the consecutive stages of creation. I adopt the genetic criticism approach, which fosters the avant-text and the postulate to include the process-based creation of literary work into the critical reflection (écruture). In line with this field’s premises, I attempt to reconstruct the poem writing process, to uncover the rejected varieties and senses, pinpoint the areas where alternative meanings coexist, and to recover the text lost in print, non-final, dynamic and ready to take on many possible forms.