You have your idea and your pen in your hand? Great! Now, while you are creating that masterwork, you might want to consider a few things.
| 96. | Make your poems work. |
| 97. | Rhymes do not have to be perfect. |
| 98. | “Scansion doesn’t have to be perfect, either.” |
| 99. | Fit the rhythm and rhyme to the mood. |
| 100. | Pay attention to flow control. |
| 101. | Stimulate the readers’ senses. |
| 102. | Be consistent. Keep your details straight. |
| 103. | Present, develop, summarize. |
| 104. | Restrain yourself. |
| 105. | Be concrete, not abstract or obscure. |
| 106. | Be fresh. Avoid Clichés |
| 107. | Consider poem clusters. |
| 108. | Name your characters. |
| 109. | Establish and separate points of view. |
| 110. | Use classical or current allusions. |
| 111. | Charcoal, Pastels, and Oils |
| 112. | For songs, use repetition and nonsense syllables as thinking space. |
| 113. | One short phrase repeated over and over seldom makes an exciting chorus. |
| 114. | “A poem is like a baby.” |
| 115. | Just write it down. |
| 116. | Your opinion counts. |
| 117. | Conflict is the meat of a story. |
| 118. | Relax, and don’t be too artsy! |
| 119. | “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” |
| 120. | “A song doesn’t have to rhyme, but it does need rhythm.” |
| 121. | Use a dummy melody. |
| 122. | Try writing in a non-specific gender. |
| 123. | Play with tenses, voices, and points of view. |
| 124. | Make every word count. |
| 125. | Have an alphabet visible. |
| 126. | “Every verse should have its own raison d’être.” |
| 127. | “If you use an awkward rhyme, put the forced rhyme first.” |
| 128. | If you’re stuck for a rhyme, try place names and proper nouns. |
| 129. | Add to the beginning. |
| 130. | Work after you want to quit. |
| 131. | Be implicit. |
| 132. | Go metaphysical. Go philosophical. Transcend! |
| 133. | Reverse consonants from line to line to bind the poem together. |
| 134. | Listen to the sounds of words. |
| 135. | Break it up! Space is the Poet’s Best Friend. |
| 136. | Mind your thees and thous. |
| 137. | “Write in the first person, but not about yourself.” |
| 138. | Build a wide bridge to your audience. |
| 139. | If you sound like Seuss, give your lines more juice! |
| 140. | If you sound like Seuss, make your rhymes loose. |
| 141. | If you sound like Seuss, give your rhyme a goose. |
| 142. | If you sound like Seuss, make your meter more obtuse. |
| 143. | Avoid non-standard contractions. |
| 144. | Keep a unified voice, unless you have a good reason. |
