assignment 20—how to write to a poem—emanuelle sippy

1. convince yourself that every idea/image/thought is worth something even & maybe esp. the weird, outlandish stuff 
2. get good at reading the scribbles you jotted down when you couldn’t fall asleep 
3. read other people’s work and be both amazed and saddened/angered that it’s not yours & yours isn’t /may never be that good
4. make multiple versions of the same document with slight changes & lose track of where they are, which one you like most, which you shared with X person for critique, which you shared with Y person to gas you up 
5. repetition !!  
6. leave things so that you come back with fresh eyes
7. come back without fresh eyes, thinking you want to be done with it & feel done with it but know it needs something / isn’t good enough / not sure who to ask 
8. find the old thing you forget you once wrote
9. metaphor !! but too many in one poem
10. laugh at the stupid idea you finally deciphered & think the idea you can’t is worth deciphering even though it isn’t 
11. think you are qualified to write a “how to write a poem” even though you aren’t