Advice for new poets

An illustration of the legendary poet Orpheus strumming his lyre and singing before an audience.

Write poetry to express yourself, rather than to impress others.

Expressing complex ideas and emotions through writing is not second nature. Writing is a tool that humans developed over time. The more you practice writing, the better you get at it.

The more you read, the more you will have to draw from in your poetry.

Read poems from “the greats,” as well as amateurs. Keep a collection of poems that you like.

Writing poems about joy is sometimes harder than writing poems about heartbreak, grief, and anger. I challenge you to try writing a poem about joy or peace.

Your poems don’t always need to be about anything pressing, important, or deep. Honestly, sometimes the best ones aren’t.
Budai laughing.

A good sense of humor helps. Don’t take poetry so seriously. It is a tool to express yourself, but it is also a flawed and awkward tool to wield. Learn to laugh at your own poetry. Poetry is funny.

Confessional, emotionally charged, and clumsy poems about love and heartbreak are natural entry points to poetry for many people, as relationships have plenty of material to write about. Be kind when you see others in this phase. You may find yourself back in it yourself.

Cringe culture is dead. Write about what you want to write about.

Recognize that what other poets write is usually as important to them as your own poetry is to you. Be gracious when critiquing others’ works. Even when a poem doesn’t work for you, try to find an aspect of it that you do like.

I notice that a lot of new poets get excited about writing haikus, which is great. But understand that the tradition of haiku is not just about fitting words into a 5-7-5 syllable count. A haiku is also about capturing a certain vibe, usually relating to nature or atmosphere, focusing on the here and now. To understand, I recommend reading examples; this article has a lot of strong examples scattered throughout.

You might run into some poets that are snobby, gatekeepy, cliquey, and rude. This is especially common on college campuses, where a lot of young adults are fresh out of high school and want to reenact high school dynamics – but it can probably happen anywhere. These people are miserable, dedicating their lives to pretending their own shit doesn’t stink. Life is generally happier when you avoid them. Don’t let yourself become somebody like this.

Let go of the need to be understood. This is a hard one if you put a lot of yourself into your poetry, but it’s necessary. It’s impossible to have full control over how others will interpret your words. Instead, when drafting, focus on expressing what you want to express. When you feel you have done that, if you want, you can gather feedback from others and see how they interpret what you’ve written. Then you can choose if you want to make changes for clarity, or not.

When workshopping, remember that critiques, suggestions, and interpretations from other people are not demands. You can decide for yourself how other people’s feedback will influence or not influence your poem.

You can submit to lit mags, but submitting to lit mags isn’t the only way to be a “real poet.”

There are two things that make poems by new poets sound clunky. 1: Overreliance on “abstractions.” Abstractions are big, loaded concept words that tell us about ideas, but don’t really dig into the specifics, i.e. “I am full of grief. I feel sad.” Instead of relying too much on abstractions, try to hone in on sensory details instead. Write about specifics. Try to make it so the reader can understand how that experience physically feels. One of my professors once said, “It’s a paradox, but writing about something with more personal, specific details tends to make it more relatable for your reader.”

2: A lack of rhythm. Learn to focus on your poetry’s rhythm. Focus on how the words sound. Even if you’re a (sidenote: A poet that writes mainly for their poems to be presented in print, as opposed to spoken word. ) it’s a good exercise to read your poems aloud so you can hear them. Study and read examples of meter. You don’t have to write in meter in order to write good poetry, but understanding it will teach you why some poems and phrases “sound good,” and help you become a better poet.

But in poetry, rules are made to be broken. Ordinary words, and writing the way you speak, can be powerful; so if you want to, use abstractions all you want. You don’t need to write perfectly uniform rhythms; a little bump or hiccup in your rhythm, as in Emily Dickinson’s poetry, can be lovely. When you are mindful about why you are using certain techniques (and the answer can just be, “Because it pleases me”), then you are golden.

If a poem is personal and still very raw, and you’re not ready to share it with other people, then don’t feel like you have to. Hold off on bringing it to workshop until you’ve steeled yourself to others’ feedback. Keep in mind that not everybody is going to be great at giving constructive feedback! Perhaps you may not want to workshop it at all, and that’s fine.

Poetry is about observation. So everywhere you go in life, observe things with care. Be curious about the world and its environments and its creatures. Poetry is a mindset.

People are walking poems.

Terms to know

Books to read

Forms to try

Exercises