Wendell Berry: How to be a Poet
Reading poetry is probably one of the most important things a writer can do. Actually, reading good poetry is important. There's a lot of it and one shouldn't have to look too far.
However, when you combine good poetry with great writing advice, well, you're onto something.
In Wendell Berry's poem How to be a Poet (To Remind Myself), he marries the musical flow of poetry with good advice.
As a note, I found the poem below in a weekly email I get from Brain Pickings. I highly recommend signing up for this email. It's fabulous.
HOW TO BE A POET
(to remind myself)
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill – more of each
than you have – inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.