this way

Having a way with words will only get you so far. You must have a way into the world that others will want to follow.

ways to go wrong

There are many ways for a poem to go wrong, and in composition one would do well to follow all of them.

hardly a trail

A poem may reveal almost nothing of its path: a broken twig, a stone disturbed, with little else to follow.

test for poetry

Will the poem follow you? Will the poem affix itself to you? Will the poem inflect the course of your life?

required rebel

Slavishly we imitate; and slavishly, rebel.

—Mignon McLaughlin, Aperçus: Aphorisms of Mignon McLaughlin (Brabant Press), introduction by Josh Michaels.

stream of story and theme

The same stories and themes follow us because we as a society are constantly breaking camp and moving on.