Jorge Said:

Would anyone like a little advice on how to write poetry from a creative writing teacher?

We Answered:

Dondi, I've never heard you so angry - you sound like me. With all due respect, I wouldn't shout about that 4th book - after all, it's being published by someone who would publish a book containing lists of ingredients from supermarket items if he thought he could make money from it. And you do actually seem to follow some of his/her advice sometimes.

I'm surprised that I actually find myself agreeing with some of what elyslund said, because I've never yet read a poem by her that impressed me - far too self-indulgent and off-the-wall. Buk follows his own rules, but the irony is that his poems are usually only worth the read when they verge on the traditional.

However, sometimes it suits the point of the poem to rhyme words like 'rain' with 'pain', so one shouldn't avoid the appropriate words which best serve the purpose of the poem merely to escape the accusation of being cliched.

I would say that it's usually best to know the 'rules' before one tries to bend them, but some of your rules don't seem like rules to me.