Welcome to Poetry Exercise at Ariadne's Web

Jump-start your poetry with ideas from our writing exercises.

Other exercises: Index. "Alien". Spell casting. Write a poem like Billy Collins.

Books of Poetry Form. Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Your Poetry.
How to Listen to Poetry. Recommended books on Reading Poetry.

New Log of books read.

Poetry exercises with poetry forms: Forms of skaldic verse.
Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka.
Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Rondeau. Rubáiyát. Sestina. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Other poets:
Billy Collins and exercise. Franz Wright. Jack Gilbert. Jorie Graham. Karen Braucher. Len Anderson.
Li-Young Lee. Linda Pastan. Nordic Skalds. Richard Hugo's Triggering Town. W.S. Merwin. Adam Zagajewski.

Try some of these exercises

"The Alien."

Check out this special way to leverage your poem from one that fascinates you.

"Billy Collins."

Try writing a poem in the style of the famous and popular Billy Collins.

Chance card.

1. Close your eyes, pick a book from a bookshelf, open it at random, copy a line or phrase.
2. Paraphrase the line in a half-dozen ways and pick the one you like best as your start line.
3. Write a 5-line stanza of similar length to the first line.
4. Write a couple more 5-line stanzas, using that same line length. In the second stanza, include something that addresses the opposite of the chosen line. In the last stanza, reconsider what you put in the first stanza in view of what you put in the second stanza.

Color.

1. Chose a color, perhaps chartreuse or burgundy or steel grey.
2. Take a 11-to-30-minute walk, noticing everything of that color. If you can't walk, look out the window or look through art books.
3. Come back to your writing desk and write your poem, using lots of strong verbs.

Don't.

1. Write a stanza of 4 to 8 lines that begins "I can never ...".
2. Write a similar stanza (as in a unique-form or nonce poem) that begins "I can't remember ..." or "I'm not thinking of ...".
3. Write a similar stanza that begins "I can't stand ...".

Fear.

Write a poem on the funniest thing that you ever heard someone was afraid of. Cabbages? Teddy bears? Dollar bills?

First.

Write a stanza on the first thing you do on leaving the house, and another on the first time you left home to live somewhere else. Write about the first food you ate the morning and the first time that you are something that you remember.

Haiku.

Write your first three haiku.

Heart.

"Write what is in your heart; you can write that better than anyone else can write it." [From Joe Ahearn, quoting Brenda Hillman.]

Keats.

"Write as well as Keats; take as long as you like." [From Joe Ahearn, quoting Donald Hall.]

Leaving, leaving, leaving, ...

Write a list of ways in which you have left someone or something. Write 4 things that you like about leaving and 5 things that you hate. Write a list of ways someone has left you. Include situations from long-ago. Include some that are not true. Now write your poem

Loss.

Write down three things you have lost in the last week. Write down three things you have lost more than once in the last year. Write down three things you wish you could lose. Write a poem that includes all of these things.

Love and hate.

1. Pick something you feel strongly about and write a stanza as if you hate it.
2. With the same topic, write a stanza as if you are puzzled by the topic.
3. Finally with the last stanza, write as if you love it.

Madeleine.

Describe some comfort food - its color, its aroma, its texture against your lips and tongue. Mention three non-food memories that it revives, at least one joyful and one painful.

Mimic a model.

Select a writer that you want to understand. From a dozen of his/her poems, select several words from each that you do not usually use. Sprinkle those around an empty page. Write a poem connecting the words.

Morning Glory and American Splendor

Describe your morning in all its mundane as well as unique splendor, including your internal dialog, much as Harvey Pekar does in American Splendor.

Narration.

Tell the story of an incident that you experienced. Then tell a story of an incident you witnessed but did not participate in. Show a way in which these incidents clarify each other. Invent at least half of the facts.

Overhear.

Write in a cafe, and jot down phrases and comments that you hear. Weave them into a poem.

Persona.

Write as if you were someone else, or something else. What do you hear, taste, think, if you are smoke, a star, a paper clip, a fig tree, an oil stick?

Place - being in touch.

Visualize somewhere you love to be - indoors, outdoors, small, large. Jot down half a dozen words for the smells, and another half dozen for what you see. List the flavors of food and drink you have enjoyed there. List some physical feelings such as the air on your skin, how your feet feel, how your ears feel. Write your poem focusing on the non-visual aspects.

"Spell casting."

Check out how to write a poem that casts a spell.

Translation from an unknown language.

Find a sample of prose, or even a poem, in a language that you do not know. Translate this text, based on the sounds and spelling, and the English words of which they remind you.

Worst.

Write a poem on "My worst summer vacation." Write another poem on "My worst friend." Write another poem on "My enemy friend."

Zagajewski (Adam)

Check out how to write a poem like Adam Zagajewski.

In the Palm of Your Hand, Steve Kowit. Highly recommended. Brimming with clear and practical exercises, Kowit's book is the best 'How to' book to help you start writing poetry. My favorite chapter is about Awful Poems, where Kowit leads us cheerily through the frequent mistakes that appear in our poems, with exercises to correct them.

The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, Edited by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland.

Books on Writing Poetry. Other Books of Poetry Form.

Highlights of Poetry. Poetry index.

	In the Palm of Your Hand, Steve Kowit. Highly recommended. Brimming with clear and practical exercises, Kowit's book is the best 'How to' book to help you start writing poetry. My favorite chapter is about Awful Poems, where Kowit leads us cheerily through the frequent mistakes that appear in our poems, with exercises to correct them.
	The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, Edited by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland.
Books on Writing Poetry.	Other Books of Poetry Form.