Tagged: list at least four things each you think a beginning poet should and shouldn't do: tag someone else.
Four things to do [not prescriptive, just if it suits]:Tagging the indefatigable Arlene Ang. And you, reading this, if you want to. It'd be interesting to read what other poets consider useful to a beginning poet.
1. Read a lot of books. Read in search of writing heroes and heroines. Read so you have the best examples of the best writing you can find. Read to breathe in life through words, to be inspired, from the Latin inspirare — in + spirare — to breathe
b. Research. Goes along with #1 really. If you need to know how to write a press release, a sonnet, a grant application, look it up. This was the kind of stuff I wanted to know when I was starting out, but of course different people have different needs. Whatever works for you. Research is fun! It's one of the funnest things I know.
III. Rage against the machine. Learn how to write a sonnet and then subvert it. Play by the rules so that you know how to break them. Have fun doing it. It is fun. I liked embedding secret messages in my early poems. It was hard and it was fun. You create pretty interesting language and juxtapositions that you might not have otherwise created without the freedom of stricture.
• Reject advice, even if well-meaning. Sometimes you gotta find your own way.
Seen among my travels: Potty, Fartwell and Knob: From Luke Warm to Minty Badger - Extraordinary But True Names of British People. Heehee! Sounds like a great Christmas present right there.
I once knew a girl named Theresa Green. And at university, there was this guy I knew named Will Barrows. It was a bit sad, though, 'cos everyone just pushed him around.
