ALChemy27 Jun 2007

You're doin' alright kid. Start reading alot of the classics; Emily Dickenson, Shakespeare etc. and then try to write something in their style. Read poetry basics books. Ones that touch on meter, alliterations, metaphor and such. Don't compromise your sentences just to get a rhyme; ie. "But with joy I still swelled". This is an inverted sentence and is usually a literary no-no.
Ask yourself "Would I talk like that in real life?"
Don't be discouraged by critics. We all start at the bottom.