Poetry Writing

Inspiration & Exploration

Poetry is the art of saying the most with the fewest words — and you are already closer to being a poet than you think. Start by reading poems from many different times and styles. Visit poets.org (run by the Academy of American Poets) and read three poems you have never seen before — pick ones that surprise you. Search for poetry by Utah poets: Paisley Rekdal is Utah's Poet Laureate and her work connects deeply to place and identity. Listen to spoken word performances on the free YouTube channel "Button Poetry" — these poems are performed live and will show you how powerful poetry can be out loud. Notice what you feel when you read or hear a poem that hits you — does it make you think, laugh, or feel something in your chest? Write down five lines from any poems that you love, for any reason at all. You're ready for the next step when you have five favorite lines from poems you found on your own and can say why each one works for you.

Tools & Techniques

Poetry uses special tools that make ordinary language feel electric. Learn three of the most important: imagery (words that create a picture or feeling in the reader's mind), metaphor (saying one thing IS another thing to create a surprising comparison), and line breaks (choosing exactly where each line ends, which controls the reader's rhythm and breath). All you need to write poetry is a notebook and a pen — but you can also use the free app "Notion" or even the Notes app on your phone. Watch free lessons on the Poetry Foundation website at poetryfoundation.org — their "Learning Lab" section is entirely free. Study the difference between rhyming and free verse: rhyme can feel musical, but free verse lets you follow the natural rhythm of thought and speech. Try writing five metaphors about things you see right now, just for practice. You're ready for the next step when you can identify imagery, metaphor, and a purposeful line break in a poem you did not write.

First Creations

Write your first five complete poems this week — and give yourself total permission to be imperfect. Try one rhyming poem, one free verse poem, and one poem that describes a single object in extreme detail (this is called an "ode"). For your ode, choose something small and specific: a red canyon rock, a pair of worn-out shoes, a grandmother's kitchen. Write about what you know from your own life in Utah — the smell of the Bonneville Salt Flats, the way light looks on the Wasatch Mountains in January, or the sound of your neighborhood at night. Read each poem out loud to yourself and listen for where the rhythm stumbles — then fix just that line. Free poem-a-day prompts are available at napowrimo.net all year long. You're ready for the next step when you have five complete poems in a notebook or document and have read each one aloud at least once.

Style Development

Now explore different poetic forms and find which shapes suit your voice. Try a haiku (five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables — three lines about a single moment). Try a sonnet: fourteen lines with a specific rhyme scheme — the free website poetryfoundation.org has excellent examples. Try an erasure poem: take a page from an old newspaper or magazine (thrift stores always have these) and black out most of the words, leaving only the ones that form your poem. Experiment with concrete poetry — arrange your words on the page in a shape that matches your subject. Study the work of Utah poets including David Lee, often called Utah's first Poet Laureate, whose poems are rooted in rural western landscapes. Try imitating the style of one poet you admire, then gradually let your own voice take over. You're ready for the next step when you have written at least one poem in three different forms and can name which form feels most natural to you.

Refine Your Craft

Great poems are not written — they are rewritten. Take your three best poems from earlier steps and revise each one at least three times. In your first revision, cut every word that is not absolutely necessary. In your second revision, replace every ordinary word with the most specific and surprising word you can find — use a free thesaurus at thesaurus.com. In your third revision, read it aloud and fix anywhere your breath or your voice wants to pause or speed up. Study compression: the ability to say something complex in very few words. Read the complete poems of Emily Dickinson for free at poets.org — she is a master of compression. Share one poem with a trusted reader and ask only: what do you see? What do you feel? Use their answer to guide your next revision. You're ready for the next step when you have three poems that each feel finished — where every single word is there on purpose.

Portfolio Piece

Your portfolio piece is a chapbook — a small, self-made collection of eight to twelve of your best poems organized around a theme. Themes could include: your neighborhood, the Utah landscape, family, growing up, or the future. Arrange the poems so they speak to each other — put the strongest poem first and a powerful one last. Write a short introduction of one paragraph explaining your theme and why you chose it. Design a simple cover using Canva (free plan) — add a title, your name, and an image or illustration. Print and fold the pages to create a physical booklet, or share it as a digital PDF. Submit one or two poems to a free online youth literary journal — try Stone Soup Magazine at stonesoup.com or the Apprentice Writer journal from the Susquehanna University program, which is free to submit. You're ready for the next step when you have a complete chapbook — physical or digital — with a cover, an introduction, and at least eight original poems.