by Dean Traylor

Created on: August 17, 2009   Last Updated: September 13, 2009

There was a poem posted on a website with the following lines:

"Give me the murky door/ so I can walk on love's floor."

The lines are confusing and it's tough to decipher. The rest of the verses in this poem shed little light on what they mean. Instead, it rambles on making supercilious comments and eliciting the name of Basho, the Japanese Haiku master, in some pretentious attempt to solidify the poem. Despite its intent, it became one of the most annoying twelve-line poems one can read.

Poetry writing doesn't have to be this bad. There are some things the would-be poet needs to know in order to avoid such a spectacular failure as the poem on this particular website had become. These tips are not everything that a poet needs to know; however, they are the ones that can improve the planning and writing of this important art form.

#1 Never settle for the first draft.

This is a very simple rule that can simply be forgotten. Often, when writing a poem, a would-be poet may jot down what comes to mind or what has inspired him or her. That's fine. However, the poem is not complete. It's still jumbled and raw. It needs to be fixed or better yet, more planning needs to go into it. Since the advent of the Internet, website that allow for the publication of poems are often filled with first draft poems - poems that were written at the spur of the moment. They're clunky, rough and very amateurish. The first draft should be on paper, not as a finished product on the screen. The poet needs to go back, re-read it, edit and decide which direction to take the poem.

#2 Try to Tell a Story

Poems use to be the primary format for story-telling. Epics told of adventures in far flung lands; ballad sang about tragedies. No matter what type of format, the art of story-telling is an extremely powerful way to represent the human experience. Also, it makes for an easy-to-read poem. Also, with the attention span of most internet readers, a narrative poem will be short and get the attention of the readers. Also, it's easy to do a narrative poem that will express a theme or a message you want your poem to have.

#3 Write something with meaning.

Lyrical poems can be fun. Metaphysical poems can be confusing. However, there comes a time when the poet has something to say. These poems are the ones the reader will remember the most. When the poem has substance, the reader will stop to think about the topic being presented. Also, the easiest way to write something with meaning is to write about

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