A Blitz of Poetry Writing Exercises
Does all this talk about poetry have you itching to give it a try?
If you’ve written poetry in the past but drifted away from it, then it probably doesn’t take much to trigger your taste for writing verse.
Even though I’m busy with writing projects for my clients and don’t have much time to engage in writing for my own pleasure, poetic images and phrases have been dancing around in my head all month long. I think some of them may have even seeped into my client work and blog posts.
And that’s great for my clients and for everyone who reads this blog, because poetry has a unique way of sticking. Using language tricks and vivid imagery, poetry skips past the conscious mind and communicates directly with the subconscious. Okay, so not all poems achieve this. But poetry does it better than any other writing form.
But where to start? What to write about? To rhyme or not to rhyme?
Poetry Writing Exercises
Over time, Writing Forward has published a number of poetry writing exercises.
If you’d like to dip your toes into poetry writing, give freewriting a try. Or, skip the freewrite and just start writing poems using these five poetry prompts.
Would you prefer to work with existing materials and just piece a poem together from old, discarded parts? Check out this text collage project.
Maybe you want to make poems that rhyme. Rhyme is heavily associated with poetry, even though not all poems rhyme. Find out how to get your mind on rhyme for poetry writing.
If you just want some general tips and advice on writing and poetry, then here are five tips for better poetry writing.
Remember, poetry writing exercises are supposed to be fun and challenging, so enjoy working your way through these, and feel free to share your poems by posting comments.
If you have any poetry writing exercises to share, feel free to post them in the comments or send them in as a guest post.
I don’t have any tips or tricks to offer but I appreciate yours! I’ve never heard of a freewrite but I may try that, it sounds like it could yield really interesting results. I’m very glad for the book recommendations too- thank you.
Thanks Greer! Freewriting has been one of my favorite writing activities for a long time. If you decide to give it a try, come back and let us know how you like it.
Hi Melissa,
I don’t consider myself much of a poet, although my journal is full of my version of poetry.
But today I had a most unusual experience.
I was writing a comment for another site about why I love to write, when my paragraphs begged me for an edit.
So I did, as we all do, re-read and edited.
But, I couldn’t stop. The subject matter seem to
compell me to keep on editing. Until finally there were very few words left. I had spent much more time than normal re-writing a comment, but the experience was similar to painting and felt so creative.
It was so liberating I went ahead and posted as it was. The author of the writer’s blog said you would love me for doing it. So I wandered over to your site, to find your timely post. THANKS.
I certainly learned a new way to meditate today – to lose myself from strategy and really go with the flow of the moment.
Harmony
Hi Harmony,
Editing, re-editing, and commenting via poetry… I do love you for doing that
It’s a wonderful thing to get lost in the moment.
Hello Melissa,
Thank you for the comment on my site. It reminded me that I’m long overdue to mention how much I’ve been enjoying your blog. I may even have learned a few things by accident.
@Mikel, It seems like we writers never stop learning! Thank you for visiting and commenting here too.
Hi Melissa,
I still haven’t tried the freewrite yet but I did check out one of the books you mentioned- A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver. What a great resource! Her explanations of meter, foot, iamb, etc are so much clearer than others I’ve read. I’m so grateful for the recommendation.
@Greer, Mary Oliver is excellent. There are some other good poetry resources that I’ll post this week! As for freewriting, some of my best poems were born that way!