In the 1980s, a poetry magazine called The Reaper published an article outlining their Ten Non-Negotiable Demands – ten rules that poets had to follow going forward. We also have some rules that we MUST follow in this class (* = rules that I stole from The Reaper, which I also strongly endorse)

NON-NEGOTIABLE DEMANDS

• All pieces MUST have a title.
• Editing is NOT the same thing as revising.
• Watching is NOT participating (sorry, gang…)
• Being on your smartphone / iPad / computer etc is being off topic – if you are listening to music while you compose, you cannot simultaneously write and DJ. Choose an album, Spotify station, whatever, and let it play.
• A work in progress is fine. Something abandoned is not.
• There IS such thing as self-plagiarism. Don’t commit it.
• In our workshop discussions & markups, be critical, but fair.
• No excuses.
• No clichés.
• Stop calling formless writing poetry*
• No more poems about poetry*
• SHOW, DON’T TELL

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