Whether we like it or no, poetry and poets have an image.  Say that you're a poet and people will often imagine that you're a head in the clouds dreamer with no practical knowledge or skills, or that you have a drink problem or are on drugs, or that you have sex with anything that has a pulse.  These clichés can put a lot of people off.   Years ago when I did a bit of creative writing at university, my poetry teacher Tim Liardet, a very fine poet, asked the class to think about the clichés associated with poetry and poets and write a poem about them.  So here is my effort.
 

In Order to be a Poet…..

You don’t have to be high brow, low brow or a cow.

You don’t have to be mad, bad or sad.

You don’t have to have a PHD, a GCSE or be an S.O.B.

You don’t have to be well read, well bred or dead.

Don’t have to be Greek, a geek or a freak.

Don’t need to be hairy, scary or a fairy.

Don’t need to be medicated, alienated or inebriated.

Don’t need to be poor, a whore or insecure.

Don’t need a Rolls-Royce, or to be James Joyce; just need your own voice.

  So don't let what other people think stop you from achieving what you want from poetry.  You don't have to be a cliché, you just have to be yourself.

Janet Parfitt

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