cards play themselves

That last line, lay it down like a full house or straight flush.

full of bluster

Young poets have to be full of bluster about what they are doing; otherwise they’d have no confidence to keep writing.

—Charles Simic "The Great Poets’ Brawl of ’68," New York Review of Books, April 23, 2014

they who believe

Heartened that there were people who believed more in her poetry than she did.

dream imagination

One value of dreams is that they build confidence in the power of our imaginations.

not god (sic) enough

Even if a god offered to ghost write the poem the poet would demur.

small bold thing

Sometimes when I read a slight but delightful poem, I think that I wouldn’t have had the confidence to make a poem out of so little.

step it up

Poetry books are thin. But I’ve found that for certain poets they function as lifts. After publishing, the poet stands a little taller, the poet strides forth with more confidence.