Creative Poetry Starters can be a mere word or two:
Love Is...
A kiss on the lips,
A soft, tender touch,
Skipping through the park,
And watching the sun set at dusk.
A night of romance,
A beautiful, red rose,
A candlelit dinner,
And holding you close.
That's what love is. Click for Free Writer's Block Help E-Zine and Free E-Book I wrote this poem in the fourth grade. The creative poetry starter was just the one I gave you above: "Love is..." So, you see, it's really very easy to find words, phrases, lines, and verses to get you started. You just have to let them guide you in the right direction and come up with more words, phrases, lines, and verses to follow the ones that prompted you to write your own creative poems. For my example, all I had to do was think about what love meant to me. Obviously, being a fourth grader, I didn't know so much about a grown-up relationship. I knew what I saw in real life, TV, and movies, though. I knew what was romantic. So I went with that. Think about all that love means to you. Try writing a poem like mine. Swap out the word "love" for "friendship," "sadness," "energy," or "perfection". There are so many places to go with the images and thoughts that one word can create for a writer. Sometimes, I write poems based on paragraphs I've written. I select keywords from that paragraph and combine them into a poem with shorter lines, but just as much substance. Try some of these other poem starters on for size. Don't let your pen leave the paper you're writing on until you've written at least a half-page with all the ideas that pop into your head based on each individual poem starter. Write paragraphs if that works better for you. Then follow my method of choosing particular keywords to help you craft your poem. You'll find it's easier than it seems. Creative Poetry Starter #1: Have You Ever... It may sound like a funny poem starter, but all you have to do is come up with some absurd activity and explain how you've done it, why you've done it, or how you wanted to do it, but could never do such a thing because it's so ridiculous. This type of poem can be funny, like a limerick, or possibly more dramatic. That's right. Writing is flexible like that. Keep your options open and write however you see fit. Creative Poetry Starter #2: I write because... Write down all the reasons you write. Do you write so you can accomplish something? Enjoy something? Feel good about something? Here's an example of a poem that came from a paragraph I once wrote about writing (the paragraph served as my creative poetry starter): My wish to accomplish
Begins
As I reflect.
I seek out the means
Refuse to excuse myself
Find what strikes my fancy
Engage in the moment.
To write
To be a writer
Necessitates plotting a path
Toward which I strive.
I want to live in harmony with
The “voice of being,”
To understand that voice within myself.
If I don’t hear it
If I don’t pursue it
I may squander it
And that would truly be my loss.
I want to discover
To surprise myself
To set out upon that road that inspires me
Fills me with wonder
Bemusement
Encourages me to engage with everything
I dread losing.
I want to write
To be filled with emotion
Spontaneity
To dream
To wish
And most importantly
To realize
I am not lost
Or sought after.
Rather
I am seeking something more
For myself.
The "voice of being" that I mention within the poem was really my poem starter. That creative writing quote came from another poem that I once read that I can't remember the name of anymore. Nonetheless, it was an inspiring line in an inspiring poem, and I used it to spur my own writing further along. Creative Poetry Starter #3: Imagine...
I'm going to make this one plain, simple, and indisputably easy: Use your imagination. Consider what you never have. Write with description and character. Make your writing come alive. To start a poem with the word "imagine," you must be able to do just that -- imagine the unimaginable. In this way will your writing become great. These are just a few poem starters. Work on these, think up your own creative poetry starters, and check out quotes, story starters, and other activities on and around this website to find more ideas to spark your imagination.
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