How to Build a Poem

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How to Build a Poem

And how will it ever end, unless the day finally arrives when we have compared everything in the world to everything else in the world, and there is nothing left to do but quietly close our notebooks and sit with our hands folded on our desks. - Billy Collins, "The Trouble with Poetry."

 Step One:
Experience something, it doesn't greatly matter what:
The birth of a child,
The way that fresh-baked bread loaves rise,
The little morning surprise
Of fresh-brewed coffee touching your upper lip
At the breakfast-table sip:
It doesn't greatly matter what.
With time and effort and a little luck
You'll soon discover that just by living you've compiled
A store of good materials for use.

Step Two:
Take the supplies you've gathered and begin
To stack and layer:
Compare
The steaming coffee surprise
To the look in your newborn child's watery hazel gaze,
Or look at how the rising yeast reminds
You of that thing you did last week -
It doesn't greatly matter what.
What matters is that
You stack and mold and let the figures speak
To build a structure worthy of living in.

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