Instructions for writing a poem
No I, no moon, no universal truths
(But nothing too specific)
Something about lilacs, butterflies when they do that thing - you know the thing they do?
No lists
No disembodied You
A little abstract - dry, with an unreliable narrator
Non-sequiturs are good
A phrase, like, The night sky brackets us with light we cannot see
Childhood memories
How we collect griefs like lepidoptery, and poems are the glass cases we put them in, when we become afraid of the sudden gentleness of wings on our faces
Meaning must arrive like that - surreptitiously, leaving the reader changed, but unable to pinpoint the precise reason why
No poem is an island
Always, always adhere to the ecstatic division between rules and play
Now we have entered into a shared conspiracy, you and I
Victoria Spires
Victoria Spires lives in Northampton, UK with her family. She has been published in Berlin Lit, Ghost City Review, Stanchion, Dust & The London Magazine, among others. She was commended/shortlisted in the following competitions: Ledbury, TPW Prize, Aesthetica Arts, Artemesia Arts, Plough Prize, Alpine Fellowship. She came Third in the Rialto Nature & Place Competition 2025. Her debut pamphlet Soi-même is available from Salo Press. When not writing, she can be found running or crouching down looking at something interesting through a jewellers' loupe.
Why This Knocked Martheaus Out:
Is this exactly the type of poem you send to someone who reads 100 poems a week? Sure, you got me there. But, it's more than a "poem for the poets." The contradictions of the poem--the fact that it's a list, the fact that it uses the very elements it forbids--contribute to this argument for poetry as something that invites failure and earnestness.
I'm happy to see myself collecting humor poems in my pokedex (poemdex . . . you decide which you like better). The humor here is slight, it's clever--and there may even be these internal jokes where the poet can sneak in a line like "The night sky brackets us with light we cannot see"--a line they love, a line they find cliche, both? It's a healthy kind of fun throughout.
Interview:
Mar: A mentor of mine drilled it into me that we have to read ourselves thoroughly to catch our go-to writing tricks. Is this poem a big call out for your own writing, and how has being more aware of your "habits" impacted your newer work?
Victoria: As with many of my poems, this one started with a feeling of playfulness and with the idea of having a little fun with the so-called 'rules' of poetry. As someone who is still quite new into the poetry world, I read a lot (A LOT) - not just other poets, but established poets' essays and opinions on what makes a 'good' poem. Whilst there is a lot of sense to be found in this advice, I also think that it's a poorly kept secret that poetry is utterly subjective and as such, anything goes. And that's why we love it, isn't it? I began playing around with these ideas and as a kind of in-joke with myself, decided to try to write a poem that simultaneously is and isn't composed of many of the things you're NOT supposed to do. It also allowed me to stand back from my own 'go-to writing tricks' and experiment a little (for instance, I hardly ever write list poems). More than anything, I thoroughly enjoyed myself writing it - and now the poem's been published, I can't work out if the joke is on me, or poetry, or both. Probably both. Go poetry!