1. Take one idea.
(Making sure it is politically correct,
Not controversial,
And going, slightly, off)
2. Write it down.
(Careful now! Make sure the spelling and rhyme are correct.
Making a mistake here would spell
Disaster)
HINT - big words are preferable, due to their unintelligibility.
3. Lock it away.
(This is to prevent it being read by
Impressionable Young Minds)
Your poem will then gracefully die, leaving you in peace and ensuring
A long life.
This is the safest way to write a poem.

Or
You could take
A different idea.
Controversial.
Disreputable.
Smelling of cheap wine and stale cigarettes,
The dust of an attic room and the ink of a typewriter
Splattered in your face as the sun hides behind the moon
Because of fear of the lion that stalks her.
Fuck rhythm.
Screw rhyme.
Inscribe it across the sky in letters of fire,
Scream it to the stars so everybody must hear it.
This way your poem will live forever.
But you may die soon.

Copyright © 1998, Tom Massey
URL: http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/Atrium/8864/poetry/howto.html

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