I have come to believe that writing an effective poem, and teaching the writing of poetry, begins with a poetry two-step.

FIRST DANCE STEP: Images create emotions.

This is easy enough to demonstrate . . .

It’s one thing to tell a story in fifteen pages or in a novel. It’s a different matter, though, to tell a story in a tight space. What about a story in a one-page poem or in a 900-word flash-fiction piece? This is storytelling on the subatomic level. When I am trying to tell a micro story, I focus on something very basic . . .

OK, I get it. I do. It can seem like a racket. You spend your $25 (or so) to submit your poetry or short story book manuscript to a contest. You know that the judges are likely to receive, depending on the prestige of the competition, somewhere in the hundreds of submissions. Say there are…