the school of hard knocks: 14 suggestions for aspiring poets and writers
by Ron Whitehead
1) Join a writing group. Outgrow it as soon as possible.
2) Dig deep into your childhood. Write the best and the worst memories. Embrace your past. Be an autodidact. Teach yourself. The School of Hard Knocks is The Best School of All! Learn everything you can about everything you're interested in. Learn things you don't even want to learn things that are uninteresting but are related to your poem your story. Read everything you can get your hands on.
3) Take classes classes classes on literature, poetry, prose, and on writing.
4) Master grammar and scansion, the terrible mechanics of prose and poetry.
5) Be a master skeptic. Doubt yourself and everyone else.
6) Be a master believer. Believe in yourself and nearly everyone else.
7) Submit submit submit your work to every publication under the sun and moon.
8) You're gonna get rejected. A million times. Get used to it.
Suck it up. Develop your will power. Quit whining. Be strong!
9) Gather your poems and stories into book manuscripts and send them to publishers and when you're rejected publish your own work.
10) Read read read your work out loud in private in public at open mics read read read your work out loud to dogs cats birds people to anyone and everyone.
11) Entertainment is central! Captivate your audience! Do you want to be bored by someone reading their poem their story. Put all the energy you have into your reading. Sing your work. Even if you can't carry a tune sing your work out loud. Listen for the rhythm. Get rhythm. Build music into your poem your story. Poems and stories are dancing songs.
12) Listen. Listening is the greatest art of all. By listening to others and to yourself as you read your work out loud you will become a better writer a better editor.
13) On the darkest stormiest night of the year take everything you've learned and get in a car and drive as fast as you can along the coastline with a deep cliff falling down to the pounding ocean and throw everything you've learned out the window while screaming as loud as you can "Farewell!" "Goodbye!" then go your own way and start anew. Be your own original voice.
14) Never give up!
Photo of Ron Whitehead
BIO: Poet, writer, editor, publisher, professor, scholar, activist, U.S. National Lifetime Beat Poet Laureate Ron Whitehead, who grew up on a farm in Kentucky, is the author of over 40 books and more than 40 albums.
A UNESCO Europe Writer-in-Residence, his work has been translated into 20 languages. Winner of the Kentucky Poetry Society’s World Peace Prize for Poetry (Judge Lisel Mueller), the Kentucky Poetry Prize, the Yeats Club of Oxford’s Prize for Poetry, the City of Louisville presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in The Arts, and many other awards and honors, including being nominated for the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Ron's poetry has been published around the world in a diverse range of print and online publications from TRIQUARTERLY (Northwestern University/Illinois) to ARTFORUM (Czech Republic) to BLUE BEAT JACKET (Japan) to BEAT SCENE (England) to SOUTHERN REVIEW (Louisiana) to TRIBE magazine (NYC) to AMERICANS & OTHERS (Italy), and thousands of others.
He produced thousands of music and poetry events, festivals, and Insomniacathons across Europe and the USA. Although he recently retired from producing events, at 74, he continues to perform and record with his Storm Generation Band and many others.
His new book, TAPPING MY OWN PHONE, was released, September 2024, by the National & International Beat Poetry Foundation. His new album, THE WAY of THE HEART: OLD AGE SUITE was just released by sonaBLAST! Records.
He just returned from Newfoundland where he was the first Writer-in-Residence for the historic Woody Point Heritage Theatre’s Sonic Harvest Sessions. A new video, filmed in Newfoundland, was released February 2025.
His new book CROW and OUTLAW was released January 18, 2025 by Keeping the Flame Alive Press. A new Published in Heaven Poster of his “A Poet’s Path” poem was released on the same day. A new music spoken word video of A PRAYER for AMERICA/This Land is Your Land by Ron Whitehead (with Woody Guthrie) & The Storm Generation Band was released by sonaBLAST! Records in February 2025.
He will Feature at PoetFest in April 2025 at historic Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.
He will present The Keynote State of Gonzo Address at GonzoFest New Orleans in May 2025, where he will also perform with legendary composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram plus with the band ZU ZU YA YA.
His newest book, On A Feather of Light: New & Selected Poems, was just released by Pennington Press in hardbound, paperback, and e-book editions. And an audiobook will soon be released.
OUTLAW POET: The Legend of Ron Whitehead, a feature length documentary on Ron's life and work, is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime Films Documentaries.
Ron Whitehead’s official website is tappingmyownphone.net