LESSON 12 – FINDING THE POEM

I’ve often had people tell me that, while they love poetry and want desperately to write, they don’t know what to write about.  For some of us, myself included, that is usually not a problem.  It seems, for me, everything inspires poetry: sunsets, sun rise, rainstorms, a bird call, the sound of the wind through the trees, clouds, and, of course, events – the things that happen around me and to me.

If “finding the poem” is a problem, I’d suggest the following :

  1. Focus on a memory and recreate, in poetry, the feelings it evokes.
  2. Look through an old album, choose one picture and write a poem about it.
  3. Start with a single word (imagine, believe, remember, anticipating, etc.) and expand it into a poem.
  4. Make a list of rhyming words (time, rhyme, sublime, chime, mine, climb, prime, dime, etc.) and create meaningful lines that connect the rhymes:

I envied time/ its rhythmic climb through all the centuries…

  1. And my favorite: READ POETRY!  Reading poetry sends me to my desktop quicker than just about anything because fine lines of poetry, are uplifting, energizing, and most of all, inspiring.

Here are a few prompts in the form of pictures that I hope inspire you to write the poem that is hiding inside of you.

As always, if you like, please send your poem in through the Chat Room at www.poetladykatz.com and if I find one that really captivates me, I will feature it at the beginning of next week’s lesson.

Have a creative week,

Susan

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