Write a poem about… cake. Or birthdays. Or being a kid. Or getting caught doing something. Link back to us with a comment!
Suzanne Vega is one of my favorite inspirations. Her voice is smoky, her words are lyrical and her moods are mercurial.Download link Caramel is one of my favorites, and inspired this poem. Listen and see what it inspires for you – then post your writing at your blog and leave us a comment here so we can come read it!
just some basic photoshopping fun.
One of my favorite poetry reference books has a wealth of information about poetry, its forms and the terms associated with it. If you’re interested in reading about poetry and its forms, check out this one…
Babette Deutsch gives easy to understand definitions of common poetic terms – iamb, meter, alliteration, sonnet and lots more. She offers examples to illustrate most of her terms, and the examples are the start to an exploration of the form or poetic device. It’s silly, but I’ve always found reading about poetic forms and devices inspires me to try my hand at them. Do some reading and see what you come up with.
For a contemplative mood, this selection by Daniel Kobialka is a favorite.
Close your eyes and listen – then write about whatever springs to mind.
Here’s a potential first line for a piece. It may also fit somewhere else in a piece better:
“You really know how to push my buttons. I have to move them every so often just to get through the day.”
I created this eons ago for 1 of my first poetry websites. it was created from scratch – nothing but Photoshop effects and Flash MX painting.
Sometimes you catch something out of the corner of your eye and realize that it’s simply, breathtakingly beautiful. Write about something that is beautiful sometimes.
One of my favorite exercises on a long-ago BBS Door was a game of First Lines. The rules were simple. One member would post some lines that might make good first lines for a poem – and from there on they were fair game. Any other writer could write a poem using any one (or more) of the first lines. When you were done, you posted your ‘first lines poem’ in the category for others to read. It was always fun seeing what people came up with – and how different they all were. So… a handful of first lines to tantalize your muse…
Who would believe that the sky is so heavy?
when i pray, first i
When you were every
Beyond still pictures and artwork, video is a whole new artform – and just like anything else, it can give your muse a little jump start when you can’t get her interested any other way.