To be a poet (#1 in a possibly infinite series)

Art evokes. It causes the viewer to experience some emotion.

Poetry uses sound, rhythm, rhyme and metaphor to point toward the intended emotion, so that it can be discovered and thereby have a stronger effect than if it were merely described.

This is why so much angsty poetry of the type written by teenagers or beginning poets who have been told by well-meaning teachers to express their innermost feelings, tends to fail. It is too heavy handed to allow discovery, too self-involved to think of the reader.

BUT, everything has to start somewhere. Good poetry takes effort, and practice. Trust me. I've written good poetry and a whole crapload of terrible poetry, too. I've even had some of the good published. It's not an easy road.

So today's advice for beginning poets is this: Once you have written a piece that expresses your deepest feelings, go back through it and remove the feelings. Leave behind the context, the actions, the responses, the setting, the sounds, the smells - the things that reveal, rather than merely explain.

Try it. Let me know how it goes.