Telling people how to write poetry is a bit like frolicking through a minefield spontaneity is the order of the day but one false step and a dozen certainties will blow up in your face Setting oneself up as a knowall is dangerous so I have decided to sidestep the whole issue by saying that for someone just beginning to write no advice can be a substitute for abundant reading extensive writing and the freeing of the imagination and spirit in whatever way seems fruitful barring total anarchy Some people need their life to be reasonably secure before a poem will come others can write their way out of misery Some write to a timetable others wait for some moment of crystallisation a brainwave or slow dawning All are right providing they are not echoing some prescriptive score And its this finding of a tune which is important hearing the still small voice inside yourself and feeding it and watering it and letting it out for air from time to time one day itll be old enough to take care of itself