I will endeavour to write poems free from arcane references to impotent religious figures or dead poets.

There will be no Latin quotes in italics. I want you to read my poetry aloud, not one handed, eyes on a dictionary, scratching your head.

I will not use words such as nape when referring to a neck. Or describe skin as soft, delicate, porcelain.

I will avoid romance and love (lost, unrequited or otherwise) and abstain from pretty descriptions of landscapes, trees and flowers gracefully bending in the breeze.

Where possible I will avoid cliche.

I will write about estates, cracked pavements Presidential assignations, machines, clowns in places they shouldn't be.

Flawed people,
shopping trolleys.