A riff off of “Faith-Based Option” by Erika Meitner
(in that I wanted to emulate her series of imperatives)
Instructions for Diligent, Deadbeat Poets
By Pauline Rodwell
Don’t listen to the ones who know.
How do you think they did it?
By following rules and engaging tools
their predecessors invented?
Do it your way. Avert the struggle.
Don’t suffer the strain of attempting to change
your ingrained ways of wording a muddle.
Don’t read other poets’ works in order to learn—
toss them away with your arrogant mentality.
Resist the urge to splurge with words;
instead, you should ooze sentimentality;
and when you run dry with nothing to say,
don’t practice any proven calisthenic.
Just head outside and seize the day—
inspiration may surprise with insight quite eccentric.
If terms like ‘synecdoche’ and ‘negative capability’
cause your hand to freeze,
just remember Keats died young
and seldom wrote to please.
And when it’s time to divvy up
some cherished draft or two,
just wing it from the point of your pen
and pray Calliope grants genius to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment