Mimesis, or imitation, is a critical method for creating word music. Imagine you are setting up an easel to paint what you see before you, but with words. I take photographs of things, not very interesting as photographs in themselves, but to capture details that I may write about later. I want what I write to be true to life, even if the details are unusual. I want readers to say: yes, that’s how it is, like, for example, describing clouds at night as a soft pinkish-grey color against the night sky, which is a strange effect of city light pollution. And mimesis with sound: to have words that produce sounds that sound like the thing described. A repetitive occurrence, for example, may be described with repetitive language. To describe the world that appears as it appears, with sounds that sound like the thing described, is the essence of artistic representation.