Matt Morris
To Make a Poem Work
cut everything nonessential you want
an economy of language that forces
words to work with the greatest efficiency
either they work hard or they don’t work at all
whatever isn’t truly necessary
no matter how finely phrased or beautiful
must go your poem should scream austerity
let me be painfully clear there’s no safety
net to fall back on for those that don’t work grant
them no home in your poem remember hunger
too has proven throughout history to be
an effective motivator think of lines
as villagers starved into submission by
marauding hordes of warlords & I’m sure you’ll
start to see what I mean some poems might require
yet additional cuts this may sound harsh but
it’s like pruning a plant clip it just below
the nodes & in time a more vibrant flower
blooms likewise the poem stripped to the bone will grow
to conform with design always keep in mind
everything even free verse must conform or
the result would be anarchy in closing
if you follow these rules your poor joyless poem
should work tout de suite if not consider fire
