More Mayhew MFA

Another cliché: the word each used as an intensifier for something that cannot be counted:

"Each drop of rain / falling into limpid pools."

"Each blade of grass / trembling..."

Don't do that either.

By the same token, if there's one of something, don't use the word single. in that affected poetic voice:

"A single bird / flying across a mottled sky"

This advice is contextual. I'm sure that when the first poet used these devices, they sounded fresh. It's the 500th repetition of them that makes them cliché. It's liberating to know this. If you want to write a poem full of these devices you can, making sure to include lots of words like "shimmering." But it won't be a simple default.