Poet Patricia Smith on how to write a poem:

The process is first: get the story down. That might involve writing that looks like stream of consciousness, or like a big block of prose. And the second thing is language, and that’s when I get closer to saying, OK, this is ready. If I’ve heard it before, I take it out.

and…

You’re trying to upend expectations for the poem, from both the reader and from yourself.

and…

you work through it; then you figure out how to crack the rules a little bit.

• get the story down
• mold the language
• buck expectations
• embrace the form, then break the rules