Page numbers starting at the wrong number

Hi,

I have a front cover and a contents page on the poetry pamphlet I am creating and a few spare blank pages before the poems start. I have worked out how to get the numbers starting from the start of the poems, but when I do the insert type marker thing, it sets the page number to the actual number of the page, not 1, which I want the first page to be numbered as. Also, I have added a text box to the opposite page (facing page) and have done the same special character, type, marker process, but the numbers are not applying automatically to the whole document, even though they are all A-parent. I hope someone can help, this is driving me insane and wouldn't work on Word or Libre Office either.