How to Be a Poet

(To remind myself)

i.
Make a journal. Get a pen that makes you feel free.
A purple marker. A feather pen.
A sharpened pencil with a chewed eraser, maybe.
Turn your music on.
Louder. Louder. LOUDER!
Whatever music that reflects your mood.
Let your feelings ricochet
Growing stronger with the music.
Depend on the music. Follow your feelings.
Listen to your heart, not your brain.
Anyone who understands your poetry, question their sanity.

ii.
Breathe.
Look at the world around you.
Close your eyes
Then see what you wish to see.
Write it down.
Let the words flow. . . .
Like that river that all poets talk about.
Cover every inch of water.
There is no where you can't go.
No where you have to go.
Just where you choose to go.

iii.
Accept what your heart feels.
Don't question, just write.
Write the words that come from places unknown
Growing on the pages like grass
Taller and longer and longer and taller
filling the page.
Let the words be as loud as the song
As powerful as you feel.
Make them be your ambassador to the world.
Have them speak for you.
And when you have them speak, have them yell.

*Inspired by Wendell Berry's How To Be a Poet