Consider how you want the poem to ‘look’ on the page. Make an active choice about its alignment, paragraph structure, title, and the use of capitalizations and grammar (or lack thereof). You are the artist and therefore you will want the words on the page to transmit to the reader in a certain way. These choices help to make that happen – of course, the reader is free to take your work however they like! Just be internally consistent within the poem…

Extending on the previous section, the repetition of words, rhymes, sounds, meanings, and symbolism can make a piece pop. Experiment with groups of three as they tend to sound extra enticing.

In Seed I repeatedly use the dual rhyme endings of ‘eed’ and ‘urt’, the symbolism of seeds and pain, as well as the use of the same words in the penultimate paragraph in a different context from their first mention to evoke an alternative meaning. Finally, I also ‘tie the loop’ with a reintroduction of ‘seed’ at the end.…