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1.    heart
Possibly the most overused metaphor in the English language. Avoid it. The Roman physician Galen said the liver, not the heart, is the true seat of human passion. Considering the number of alcoholic poets with fucked-up love lives, this seems a plausible hypothesis.

2.    feel
Nobody cares how you feel. Instead of writing poetry about how depressed you are, try writing something original, like how depressed your poetry makes everyone else.

3.    moon
Yes, the moon is pretty. No, the moon will not make your poem pretty. This rule applies to many words, like “star,” “flower,” and “rainbow.” If you really think your poem needs to be prettier, try writing it in glitter.

4.    dream
Writing about dreams is like writing about masturbation, except masturbation is funny. If a word seems better suited as a pop lyric than a poem, it's best avoided.

5.    cigarette
Smoking didn't make you cool in high school, and it won't make your poetry cool either. Just because something occupies 50% of your waking thoughts doesn't mean it should occupy 50% of your written work.
 
6.    the soul
You don't even believe in the soul, so why are you writing about it? Try writing a poem about something you do believe in, like how someday you'll actually make a living writing poetry.

7.    anything Buddhist
If you want to be Beat, then pop some pills, hitchhike to Mexico, and fuck whores. Until then, spare me the bodhisattva bullshit.

8.    love
If you still believe in love, you haven't lived enough to write poetry. If you're writing a poem about how you no longer believe in love, please, save it for therapy.

9.    mirror
Like “door,” “window,” or “stairs,” mirror carries a standard symbolic meaning and should only be used if referring to the thing itself. Try an original juxtaposition, like “dishwasher of compassion.”

10.    names
Kitschy name-dropping is forgivable, but pretentious name-dropping never is. Just because I don't read books doesn't mean I need to be reminded of it.

11.    beautiful
If you need to say it's beautiful, then it probably isn't. Kinda like personal ads.

12.    mysterious
Nothing kills the mystery faster than calling something mysterious. In fact, eliminate every adjective from your poetry. And the adverbs, but that should go without saying.

13.    poem
Self-referential poetry is the surest sign you've run out of ideas. 

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In both flesh and word, Robyn Smith is a radical agent of transformation. Make no mistake; she will change you even as she changes herself (though never to her satisfaction). Robyn's is a transpoetry: as much a medium of mutation as expression and craft. Also, she's a fucking hawtie!