I have been asked: «How did you learn to become a poet? Through lots of reading of poetry? Any ‘how to’ manuals?»
I am not sure that anyone «learns how to become a poet», as in my case finding and trusting my own untraditional style of writing has been in spite of a college creative writing teacher and other literary dinosaurs telling me that I have zero talent and admonishing me to follow and mimic/copy the styles of famous writers. I detest modern rhyming poetry (especially feminine sing-song rhyme), and my signature prose-poetry styles are either short and minimalistic or stream-of-consciousness (perhaps reminiscent of some Beat poetry). My advice: write as you talk to yourself and then divide the lines as per emphasis, word groups, or breaths, and find the internal rhythm.
One of my tricks: take the parts that you like the most and use them as the theme for new poems.
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