Advice to an Emerging Poet
Know nothing. Write as if you know. Offend,
the more the better. Beauty's anodyne;
avoid it. Readers will misapprehend
wildly, but remember Wittgenstein
has all the answers, so you should pretend
depth, while on the surface every line
seems only to present mundane despairs.
This will not win you prizes, but who cares?
Doctors have their Hippocratic Oath.
The language is your patient, so be sure
you do no harm. You should therefore be loath
to operate unless it will secure
your satisfaction and the rapid growth
of self-esteem. No benchmark is as pure.
Critics and cops are there to make life hard.
Plead guilty and they sometimes drop their guard.
More poems from 'The Unspeak Poems and other verses
Pentecostal Chillout
Clancy of the Cultural Studies Department
Other poems by Tim Thorne
Jonathan Burke McHugo Comes to Town
Tourism
Alabama
When in California
Bronte Country
Normality
An interview with Tim Thorne
A conversation with Tim Thorne (2007)
Reviews of Tim Thorne's poetry
Taking Queen Victoria to Inveresk (1997)
Best Bitter (2003)
I Con (2009)
Reviews by Tim Thorne
ALVAREZ, Ivy (edited): A Slice of Cherry Pie
ALVAREZ, Ivy (edited): We Don't Stop Here
BENNETT, Stefanie: Symphony for Heart and Stone
KNIGHT, Karen, MATHISON, Robyn, KNIGHT, Norma, REEVES, Lyn, WINFIELD, Liz: Republican Dreaming
LOMER, Kathryn. Extraction of Arrows
MANSELL, Chris: Mortification & Lies
MINTER, Peter: Blue Grass
RIETH, Homer: The Dinng Car Scene
SIMPSON, Matt: In Deep
WEARNE, Alan: Kicking in Danger
Launch speech
TULLY, John: Robbed of Every Blessing