How to Write Poetry: Ideas, Tips & Creative Inspiration

Start with a thought, a feeling, a memory, or something that catches your attention, then see where the words take you.

A Little Poem About Poetry

Words wait quietly
until we notice them.

A thought becomes a line,
a line becomes a question,
and somewhere between the two
a poem begins.

No map.
No right way.
Just a handful of words
and the curious feeling
that they might belong together.
— Mara Wren

You don't have to call yourself a poet to write a poem. A poem can begin with a memory, a feeling, a conversation, a sound, a place, or something ordinary that suddenly catches your attention. Start there. Play with a few words, follow an interesting thought, and see where it takes you.

There are no perfect first lines and no single right way to write a poem. Once you've got something on the page, you can shape it, change it, or simply start another one.

Start with Something That Catches You

If you're not sure what to write about, don't sit there staring at a blank page waiting for the perfect idea. Look around.

Pick something ordinary.

A shoe by the door. A bird on the fence. The smell of toast in the kitchen. A street you've driven down a hundred times. The sound of somebody laughing in the next room.

Then get curious about it.

What does it remind you of? Where has it been? What happened before you noticed it? What would it say if it could speak? What does it make you feel?

You don't have to answer all those questions. One interesting answer might be enough to get things moving.

Put Down the Words That Come

Don't worry too much about whether something sounds like a poem.

Write a sentence. Then another.

If a word comes to mind, use it. If the next thought seems completely unrelated, follow it anyway. You can always decide later whether it belongs.

And don't assume a poem has to rhyme. Some do, and rhyming can be wonderful. But plenty of poems don't rhyme at all. Poems can have a regular beat, no obvious rhythm, long lines, short lines, or just a few words sitting by themselves on the page.

Read what you've written out loud. You'll often hear things you didn't notice while reading silently. A word might sound just right. Another might stick out like a sore thumb. A line might surprise you.

Pay attention to those moments.

Let Yourself Write a Bad Poem

This may be the most useful advice of all.

Give yourself permission to write something terrible.

It's surprisingly freeing.

When you're trying to write a good poem, every word can start feeling like a test. Is this too sentimental? Is that image silly? Does this sound like a real poet? Should I change that word?

Forget all of that for a while.

Write the poem you'd write if nobody were ever going to see it.

You can fix it later. You might even find that the supposedly terrible poem has one really good line hiding inside it.

Keep the line.

Put it into Practice

Try a 15-minute poetry starter. Choose something ordinary that catches your attention. Give yourself 15 minutes to write without worrying about whether what you are producing is actually a poem.

1	Choose your starting point. Pick an object, place, memory, sound, smell, or small moment. Don't spend too long deciding. Your first choice is fine.
2	Look closer. Write down what you notice. Colors, textures, sounds, movement, temperature, memories, associations. Be specific.
3	Ask strange questions. What does this thing remember? What would it say? Where has it been? What might happen if it could move, speak, or disappear?
4	Follow the words. Start writing. Don't stop to correct yourself. If an unexpected thought appears, follow it and see where it leads.
5	Read it aloud. When your 15 minutes are up, read what you've written out loud. Listen for words, phrases, images, or lines that have some energy.
6	Keep one good thing. Circle one line, image, phrase, or idea that interests you. That's enough. You don't have to finish a perfect poem today.

The challenge: Don't try to write a good poem. Try to notice something interesting and follow it. The poem may show up along the way. •

Play with Words

Poetry is a good place to mess around.

Take a familiar phrase and change one word. Repeat something until it starts to sound strange. Make a list of words that have nothing to do with each other and see if you can connect them. Write about a place without naming the place. Give a voice to something that normally doesn't have one.

Try writing very short poems. Try writing one that fills a whole page.

There isn't much point in worrying about doing it the "proper" way at this stage. You're making something. See where it takes you.

Then Come Back to It

A first draft is just a first draft.

Put it away for a day or two if you can. Come back when you've forgotten exactly what you were trying to say.

You may find a line you love.

You may find three lines you can't stand.

You may realize the poem wants to be about something completely different.

That's all part of writing.

Move things around. Cut a word. Add one. Change the ending. Leave it alone if it already feels right.

Eventually, you start to get a sense of what the poem wants to be.

Try a Different Kind of Poem

Once you've had a little fun with free-form writing, it's worth trying some different poetry forms.

A bit of structure can actually make writing easier. When you have a few rules to work with, you don't have to face an entirely blank page. A haiku gives you one kind of challenge. An acrostic gives you another. A calligram turns the poem into something visual. A persona poem lets you write in a voice that isn't your own.

Some forms will click with you. Others won't.

That's okay. Try them anyway.

You never know which one might get you writing.

Next: Poetry Writing Forms

How to Write Poetry