- Poems are prey animals. Chasing a poem will make it run even farther, and fighting with one is always a bad idea.
- Wild poems come and go as they please—it takes training and discipline for a poem to come when called.
- Poems will do everything possible to kill themselves. Keeping one alive is a feat within itself—taming one is even more impressive.
- Poems are messy—they like to roll in the mud and commune with nature. Give your poem time to be a poem; you can clean it up later.
- Some poems require non-poem companions—consider getting a goat for your anxious poem.
- Ask permission before approaching someone else’s poem.
- Make your presence known when you approach a poem. Speak to your poem softly; let it know that you are not a threat. (Unless, of course, you are a threat. In which case you will want to resemble that which scares poems the most: editors of literary magazines.)
- Do not leave your poem unattended. They do not always stay where you’ve left them.
- You cannot force a poem to do what it does not want to. (You can lead a poem to water but you cannot keep them from drowning themselves for the sake of the metaphor.)
- Improper handling of poems can result in traumatic brain injury or even death. Engage with poems at your own risk.
