while reading the book
i’m living by the way it hooks

reading in the right place
with the slow pace

highly concentrated
distractions is faded

re-read
when i need to

no interest in page number
and what is under

preaching the power of the word
pinning them on my cork-board

the pancil is in my hand
like a magic wand

symbols, outlines
comments, questions

Just making a point.
On the tip of forever.
Representative.

Here's some tips I can say,
If I give you advice this way,
You'll never fit through the door!
You're twice the size you were before!
So I'm not doing beer belly ****!

Fingers yearning, burning for touch

Cool skin warming under the heat of desiring eyes

Melded from memories of midnight places

And timeless glances

Welded eyes want to give all the clues to every secret longing, yet nothing away.

An inch spanning eternity a fragile bridge formed by the heat of breath swirling invitations of divine pleasures and intricate patterns for desires filled with aching, yet wanton abandon refrains

The rare heady warmth and enveloping depth of hearts intertwining in some mystic soul ritual, as if it had been too long and naught but for the savouring of such tension like the surface of clear glassy water before shattered by the shock wave of a projectile, just before chaos and expulsion ensue,

tip to tip shared breath, aching for the finite change of the slightest touch, not a hair arched forward, not a finger tip dared move, frozen in the complete confession of a love found unforced, not chosen, nor designed by day dreams. It just was as it had always been inextricably theirs yet not for this moment, this plane, or this existence, but love, never plays by the the rules

These are the ingredients for a poem. But like all recipes, you don't need every ingredient every time:

MUSIC
- beat, rhythm & rhyme
IMAGERY
- pictures painted
IMAGINATION
- describing what's not there.

STORY
- the narrative, the journey within the poem
STRUCTURE
- size & shape (line breaks and stanzas)

Also, you may have a inclination to use a particular ingredient to the exclusion of others - so as you recognise this, experiment with those ingredients which you are less confident about using.

Note
- the first three are where poets typically find their freedom to explore ideas within the poem;
- the last two are where the reader typically finds handholds / the anchor to better engage with the poem.

Timothy Tolliver Tines
Taught tax topics twenty times
Touting tax tips he tried
Till terribly tongue-tied
Twisted tongue tending to twine

Working on a little book for my poems, good idea? And how can I spread it? Does anyone have tips?