The thing about poetry...

The thing about poetry, with all its need for metaphors and brevity, is that studying it makes you read and write differently.

In poetry there is no room for 'mighta, sorta, kinda like' writing. It has to use strong, immediate and evocative language - even the use of similies is limited because the words 'like a...' are two too many.

So in your own writing/editing:

Don't quantify!

Nothing should ever be 'very' or 'nearly' or anything else wimpy. Even worse is 'very nearly'. If someone 'runs very quickly' [another double naughty] surely they could sprint, bolt or race. Think about your words.

Don't give them room to move!

To make something stronger in a reader's mind, things either are or they aren't.

There is strength and immediacy in a good metaphor - the sky is not LIKE indigo silk, it IS indigo silk...

Don't underestimate the intellgence of your reader!

Don't spoonfeed your reader. A lighter touch is better. Once you have it in your reader's mind that the sky is indigo silk, you don't have to expand. You don't have to add that it was a little lighter at the horizon or a bit darker or anything else. They get the picture.

Do... keep writing. It will all come out in the editing.

Jennifer