I
It’s not a good idea to use celebrity names or trendy items
in your poetry because two or three hundred years from
now, they will have faded into oblivion and you will
sound dated.
However, you’re safe with Marilyn Monroe and Elvis.

II
Do not feel your youth is a hindrance.
William Cullen Bryan wrote Thanatopsis, a meditation on death,
when he was seventeen. However, the pitfall for precociousness
is a plagiarism charge.

III
“I don’t get it.” is an acceptable response after reading poetry
you don’t understand. There isn’t any need to elaborate.

IV
Avoid writing during the swale of the afternoon or the shank of the
night. You’ll regret it.

V
A few words of caution about writing stream-of-consciousness poetry.

A flow of unfiltered thoughts is like the debris in the wake of a flash
flood: a toaster oven here, a sofa there, a credenza, unresolved conflicts –
all manner of random rubbish cascading down Main Street.

No matter how raw the content, I prefer verse that is edited, well-groomed,
and honed.

I like my literary truth varnished.

VI
Don’t write about your dreams. Your dreams are boring.