read all the ones who came before. From Sappho, to the King James Old Testament, to the graffiti artist who scratched that quip on the bathroom wall.

2. read your words, out loud, when no one listens. Make sure all the stops and starts fall in all the right places. Make sure the words all sound like they belong where you put them. Be honest with your ear.

3. be transparent. Remembering - it is easier to be straightforward with strangers than with the people in arms-reach. You have to start somewhere.

4. be modest. Merit will always outshine bravado.

5. be full of heart. There are no prizes for stringing fifty cent words together on a string. Clever and poetic are too entirely different animals.

6. not every thought deserves to be a poem. Learn to separate the chaff from the wheat. Be discerning and your readers will honor you.