1. DONT SPELL THINGS OUT (at least not all the way through) (calling out younger me here) part of the fun of reading is piecing together the whole story as you read through it, and seeing what ways a poem describes/explores something in a way you haven't seen before.
2. READ.MORE.POETRY. Like all arts, you have to consume it to create it/get better at it. You can see what you do and don't like and incorporate it into your own work as well as gather inspiration.
3. AVOID CLICHES. an example: likening love to addiction, but feel free to break this rule if you feel youre exploring a concept in a way that hasn't been done.
4. WRITE STUFF THEN ABANDON IT. i really struggle with moving on from a piece that sucks, and avoid writing a new draft, but it's a good idea to treat some poems as a sketch that you can ditch or redo after practicing/exploring a concept. (hoping that writing this forces me to do this lol)
The night wore a velvet coat
stars pinned like secrets overhead
laughter spills from the corner bar
and somewhere between sips and stories
you nudged me toward a spark
I hadn’t known I’d been chasing
She smiled, and the world shifted
subtle, but unmistakable
like the first note of a song
you didn’t know you loved
until it echoed in your chest
Your eyes said, go ahead
and I stumbled through words
that suddenly felt both heavy and light
her laugh caught me mid-thought
an anchor and a sail all at once
We traded names
and something whispered beneath the
syllables
a quiet promise
the way the night folds around two people
who’ve just begun
to recognize the shape of forever
By the end of it
I wasn’t sure who was smiling more
her, or the stars that witnessed
the first time my hear
met its reflection in her eyes
heres your sign to rewrite old poems that stink if u feel really uninspired. just did that to one i wrote when i was 14, but ngl half of it was cropping out me blatantly explaining what was happening in it💔