A spider asked her daughter
What would you like to eat?
I’m sure that I can make you
Any scrumptious sort of treat.
Like Grub-ble beetle bubble gum?
Mothed potatoes soaked in plum?
Cricket Coleslaw Crepes with Lime?
Ant-a-roni drenched in slime?
Locust larva on a stick?
Barbequed-Bee smoked with tick?
Mesquite mosquito? Slug fillet?
Flea Burrito? Worm Saute?
She thought about those options.
“They all sound really nice.
But what I’d really like to eat
Is simply deep flied rice.”
My son often looks at his hands. When he’s staring at them, nothing else matters. His world is captivating, new, interesting, exciting. He has the biggest smile on his face.
Whenever I feel bored or worry that I’m nothing special, I look down at my hands and try to remember what it was like to see them for the first time… the dozens of places they bend… the countless shapes they make… the actions they can perform… the wrinkles on the skin.
Then I wonder how I ever felt bored living in such a magical world. Everything around you is amazing from hands to electricity to carpet to music — you just have to be willing to appreciate it.
Poetry is a great way to start writing because it’s all about expression. If you feel silly and want to laugh, then crack yourself up. If you are heart-broken, then let off some anger instead of bottling it up.
I wrote this blog post for people who want to write poetry, but aren’t quite sure where to start.
Poetry is expression. There is no right or wrong way to write poetry as long as you are saying what you want to say. So be fearless and listen to that little voice in your head — it knows what to write already.
Think carefully about the words you choose. Many novels have over 50,000 words and poems can have 50 or fewer. On one hand that makes poems quicker to write (many people can finish them in hours or days instead of months/years). But on the other hand, it means you need to choose your words wisely since there are so few in each poem. Make sure each word has the meaning, style and sound that you want.
What’s your poem’s style? Poems come in as many different shapes and sizes as people do. They all have their own mood. Take a look at the opening lines to these four poems and notice how you feel when reading them. What emotions do you feel? What are you thinking about? Where does your mind think the poem is going?
Homework! Oh, Homework!
I hate you! You stink! (Prelutsky’s Homework! Oh, Homework!)
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost. (Dante’s Inferno)
Just beyond the flower garden at the end of the lawn
the curvature of the earth begins, (Collin’s Looking West)
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though. (Frost’s Stopping by the Woods)
Which of those lines did you like the best? Which one has a style you like the best? Notice how the opening line has already set the mood of the poem.
Poems don’t have to rhyme. When most people think about poems, they think about rhymes like “Roses are red…” or Dr. Seuss. However, poems don’t have to rhyme. Billy Collins is a great example of non-rhyming poems. His poems are informal and conversational. When you read them, you feel like you’re sitting down to tea with an old friend. Rhymes can be fun, but they can also distract from your poem’s message because everyone gets caught up in the rhyming. (If you do want to rhyme, use a rhyming dictionary if you want help with the rhymes.)
What message do you want to portray? Whether you intend to or not, all poems have some sort of message. (Even when you aren’t trying to explicitly write a message, you’re still portraying a message because you’re writing in your voice and your voice is steeped in your view of the world).
Jack Prelutsky’s poem (Homework! Oh, Homework! I hate you! You stink!) may sound too silly to have a message, but actually it reveals a lot of how he sees the world. He’s demonstrating that the world can be a fun, silly and an outlandish place to live.
When Robert Frost’s poem ends with “But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep,” you realize that he is talking about death. He has a lot of things that he still wants to do (promises to keep) before he dies (sleeps).
What environment is it easy for you to write in? Some people write well when they are alone… or out in nature… or sitting with a pen and paper… or in the middle of a loud coffee shop… or listening to their favorite music. Try writing in different places and see where it’s easiest for you.
Onomatopoeia, Alliteration and Metaphors can be your friends.
Onomatopoeia means using words that sound like what they represent… such as “plop” and “fizz”. Alliteration is repeating the same letter at the start of a word… such as “Dave Doesn’t Delay Doodling.” A Metaphor is saying one thing and meaning another. When Robert Frost talks about “sleeping” he is actually talking about “dying”. Did any of these literary techniques get your attention? If so, give them a try in a poem.
Rhythm can be important. How do the words flow when you say them? Are they easy to say together? Many poets like to use the same rhythm throughout the poem. When you read your poem, where does the emphasis go?
I added bold to the emphasis on Robert Frost’s poem. As you can see, he uses the same rhythm and emphasis throughout his poem:
Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though.
(short long short long short long short long)
He used the same short-long rhythm throughout his entire poem. Are you using a rhythm? What is it? Is it consistent?
The best poem is a finished poem. Stick with it. The more you write the easier it gets. Poems don’t have to be perfect — but they are better when they’re finished.
I hope you enjoyed my short tutorial on poetry. As for myself, I write best when it’s quiet. I like to use the same rhythm throughout the poem because I love how it rolls off my tongue. If possible, I like to end with a twist that makes people smile. Just like Jack Prelutsky, I want to show people that the world is a funny, playful place to live. If you want to check out one of my poems, you can read What do you want to be? or browse my other short poems for kids that I’ve archived online.
Happy writing!
In English class we learned about poems and then the teacher told us all to write one as homework. Even though that was years ago, I still remember that assignment clearly.
After school I took a pen and some paper to the top of the valley where I lived. Sitting in the tall grass, I stared at the ocean to one side and the mountains to the other. There were no distractions. It was just me and my pen.
The poem always stuck with me. After I graduated college, I turned it into a song that I played at open mic nights in Wellington.
What was special about that day wasn’t the poem, but the lovely afternoon I spent writing in the sun. It’s easy as an adult to forget about the joy of writing (or the joy of anything!). We all need more days spent relaxing in the sun.
So here’s my first poem. It’s funny how I pretended to understand heartache long before I learned what this poem really meant.
A rainbow used to have seven colours
now it’s just got three.
It’s black and blue and grey
since you gone left me.
In summer time how the sun did shine
but that was only when you were mine all mine.
It beats my heart up that you won’t be mine.
You’re so fine.
Tear drops falling from the sky,
raindrops falling from my eyes,
Blue liquids, blue inside.
The moon once a magic place where we used to dance
in a trance how we’d dance
Now it’s just a sterile moon
white like a hospital room.
Fill out these questions to generate your own silly mad libs letter instantly online! (Hint: a Verb is an action. An adverb usually ends in “ly” and describes an action (like slowly). A noun is a person/place/thing. An adjective describes a person/place/thing.)
I went down to the Broken Store
To buy a shattered toy.
There were so many choices
That my heart strings rang with joy.
A G.I. Joe with out a toe,
A bat without a ball
(and if you tried to swing it
You were guaranteed to fall).
Matchbox cars with just one wheel
And dolls without their knees.
A game of Twister so destroyed
It looked like shredded cheese.
Kazoos that made a silent sound
And books without an end.
There even was a bent pinwheel
Impossible to mend.
I browsed through all my options and
I settled on Twister.
It’s worthless and it’s perfect as
A gift for my sister.
My dad always said “Your health is your wealth,” but I never remember how true that is until I catch a cold. When my sore throat first starts and I wonder if it’s the dry desert air or a cold, there’s a bit of excitement — will it be a cold? Will I get to sleep and watch movies? Will my wife make me cinnamon toast? My colds always come when I’m tired and run down, so the sleep and movies sounds like the best plan ever.
But it never is. After one day of a cold, I’m over it and wish I were still healthy.
This cold was more traumatic because the whole family got sick. As miserable as I was, it broke my heart to see my son sick because he didn’t understand what was happening to him? He just knew he didn’t have the energy to play even though his mind wanted to.
I’m writing this post to remind myself (and you) how important health is. I certainly appreciate feeling better.
The writing world is broken down into plotters and pantsers. Plotters like to outline and figure out what will happen before they start to write. Pantsers fly by the seat of their pants to discover where the story wants to go.
I am very firmly a plotter. I grew up in a scientific family, studied a lot of mathematics and worked with computers. Like it or not, I had to learn how to plan.
However, plotters and pantsers aren’t that different.
Most plotters object to outlining because it stifles their creativity. It’s boring drudgery. But it’s my favorite part. That’s when you get to imagine the whole story and see all the different places it can go. Plotting is actually just “miniature pantsing”. Once you’ve pantsed enough, it’s time to pull out the permanent marker and start writing for real.
Authors Steve & Natasha