How to Become a Poet

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How to Become a Poet

• By Eve Merriam

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take the leaf of a tree trace its exact shape the
outside edges and inner lines memorize the way
it is fastened to the twig (and how the twig
arches from the branch) how it springs forth in
April how it is panoplied in July
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by late August crumple it up in your hand so that
you smell its end-of-summer sadness chew its
woody stem listen to its autumn rattle watch
it as it atomizes in the November air
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then in winterwhen there is no leaf
left invent one