HTMLGIANT has a long, nerdy craft post about popular moves in “contemporary poetry,” meaning they have written a list of common things poets do when writing poetry.

I like articles that demystify writing and turn it into an artistic process with a definite strategy. Like learning how to play chess, it makes the game easier and more exciting. Of course, there’s always a danger of over-defining and boxing in with a list like this, but that doesn’t bother me in this case because Mike Young, who wrote the post, isn’t saying there’s anything wrong with using these moves. However, we may be looking at cliches of the future here.

Here are some examples from the post:

4) The “blank of blank” construction
Examples:

From “Marriage Proposal” by Sarah Messer: “I want to be trapped by the cage of your ribs”
From “Synchronized Swimming” by Angela Sorby: “How did decay work its way into the theater of water”
From “I want you to see me” by Kate Greenstreet: “Red and blue and the white of my transparency”

16) Use of casual hedges like “sort of” and “kind of/kinda”
Example: From “Kasmir” by Jon Leon: “I’m sort of in a dunebuggy”

21) Verbs as reasons for linebreaks

Examples:

From “Homecoming” by Dorianne Laux: “At the high school football game, the boys / stroke their new muscles”
From “Vehicle” by Heather Christle: “… Man / in the dining car, stop eavesdropping / on children talking about balloons.”

31) Ending a poem with a question
Example: From “Evelyn’s Kitchen” by Shafer Hall (last stanza):

What roiling ritual is this?
What does this dance mean?
What are the shapes that I know?

And so on. Read the rest here.