Becoming a digital poet

The shift toward poetic creation isn't merely theoretical — it's happening now, and it demands new skills and mindsets. To thrive in the age of poets, consider these practical steps:

1. Expand your lexicon

Words are your primary material now. Like a painter with pigments or a sculptor with clay, your vocabulary determines what you can create. Read widely across disciplines. Study etymology. Learn technical terminology alongside poetic language. The broader your vocabulary, the more precise your prompts can become.

2. Master descriptive language

Beyond individual words, practice describing complex systems, emotions, and relationships. Can you articulate exactly what makes a design feel ‘playful’ or ‘authoritative’? Can you explain the workflow you envision without resorting to technical jargon? This descriptive fluency translates directly to prompt effectiveness.

3. Develop your prompt patterns

Different generative systems respond to different prompting techniques. Experiment methodically. Document what works. Build your personal prompt patterns — reliable templates you can adapt for different creative contexts. Think of these as your poetic forms.

4. Build your wordstack

Just as programmers have their tech stack, poets need a wordstack — the combination of tools, metaphors, frameworks, and references that form your unique creative signature. Your wordstack might include visualization techniques, rhetorical devices, and conceptual models that help you consistently produce powerful prompts.

5. Practice domain synthesis

The most potent creativity happens at the intersection of domains. My Domain Synthesis course specifically addresses this crucial skill — the ability to connect concepts across fields, generating insights and approaches unavailable to those working within a single discipline. As barriers between specialties dissolve, those who can synthesize across domains will lead the poetic revolution.

The goal isn't to replace technical understanding with poetic intuition, but to combine them. The most powerful creators will understand both the prose of how systems work and the poetry of what they might become.

The age of poets