Tips

• Do you find that you never feel inspired when you sit down to write a poem? It's a common problem, and you can solve it by carrying a notebook (some people call them Living Books) with you everywhere in which you can jot down poem ideas as they come to you. Creative ideas don't always strike at the most ideal times. Then, when you're ready to write, get out the notebook and find an idea that catches your fancy.
• You might want to listen to soothing music or look at pictures to calm and inspire you.
• Don't forget that surprise makes art (writing) extra special. If you're going to drag out the tired old 'rose metaphor' in a love poem, put your own twist on it.
• Don't give up. You'll probably find that your poems become better and easier to write as you write more of them.
• Poems can make a great gift.
• Force yourself to keep a book of your own poetry. In the future, you might be able to salvage some of the throwaways or publish your best work.
• When writing poetry, try to plan it out, using all the senses and basing it on one or two main ideas.
• Avoid cliches or overused images. "The world is your oyster," is neither a brilliant nor an original observation.
• If you are writing a poem to be sent to a newspaper or a family-friendly magazine, choose your words and topic with care. You don't want the paper to censor your original work or reject it because of profanity.
• Try to think of words that rhyme before you put them down on paper. This saves you from erasing excessively.
• Write with emotion, Emotion is a big part of poetry. If some sort of emotion isn't intertwined with the poem, it's as though you threatened your muse at gunpoint. Your reader will probably see through your forced effort.
• When you start writing poems, it may help to write a single "subject-word" in the middle of a sheet ("Love", for instance), and begin to think of words matching with the "subject-word" ("friendship" or "happiness"). When you do this before you write your poem, you already have a foundation of words you can use. This is of real value to beginners.