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What do you do when you want to write poetry? I hope your answer is “I start writing.” Even writing a bad poem is better than waiting for the “right words.” You can always throw it away, and the process has begun. You’ll start to find the words sooner than if you had just waited. Here are some more ways to get started.

Sing A Poem

Try a little experiment - alone in the basement if you must. Describe something, then describe it again, singing instead of talking. You’ll notice the words you use change. Your sentences will generally be more rythmic. It is also easier to rhyme when you are singing.

Singing comes from the right side of the brain. This is the side that handles pattern-recognition. When you sing, you access this part of your brain, and you’ll get ideas or patterns of words that are difficult for your analytical left-brain to create. Try it.

Start With Poetic Materials

You can create poetry by listing words most likely to result in decent poems. Look for emotional content, for example. “Love” and “worship” have more poetic potential than “like,” right? Scan a book, pick out powerful words, and write them down. You may want to write words that rhyme with them alonside. Then start using them.

Say something dramatic, like “I sing of death,” or “Your eyes called out.” Try to let it come from somewhere deep inside you. Then start explaining what it might mean. This will almost certainly give you material for a poem.

Play with short verses, long verses, rhyming and non-rhyming poems. Try haiku. Try writing down your thoughts as fast as you can, without stopping. Don’t worry about quality at this point. You just need to get that creative mind working. Then, when you find gems in all the dirt, you can start polishing them.

Steve Gillman has been playing with poetry for thirty years. He and his wife Ana created the game “Deal-A-Poem,” which can be accessed for free at: http://www.dealapoem.com

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Haiku poetry originated in Japan many centuries ago. Its popularity and form have spread throughout the world. Haiku is fun and easy to learn in its simplest form, and in its most sophisticated form it is an elegant expression of the spirit of a moment in time.

Basic

The haiku appears to be a very simple form of poetry. A person who might otherwise never attempt to write poetry can easily learn the simple haiku form in a few minutes and proudly produce several haiku expressions a few minutes later.

The haiku generally contains of 17 syllables written in three lines with minimal punctuation. The first line contains 5 syllables, the second 7 syllables, and the third 5 more syllables. The traditional subject of a haiku is a revealing moment in nature that is conveyed directly to the reader without judgment. One or two words indicate the season of the year to which the haiku relates. The traditional haiku is considered complete in itself and is not titled.

Less traditional haiku can be written about any subject that the author wishes. Free form haiku may have more or less than three lines and contain less than 17 syllables. It may use traditional poetic devices such as rhyme, metaphor, alliteration, simile, and others. The free form haiku may be humorous and cute, teasing and erotic, or it may have a didactic message.

Advanced

The traditional Japanese haiku is generally shorter than an English haiku because Japanese syllables are shorter and more numerous than English syllables. Some authors consider a three line format of 2-3-2 to be more consistent with the brief style of the Japanese masters.

The haiku of the masters embodies a certain spirit. The author uses the senses to create a meaningful moment, a revealing observation of everyday life that is not moralistic or judgmental. The poet tries to give the reader the means to experience the same feeling or perception that the poet had without actually explaining the feeling.

Present tense is normally used to reveal the haiku moment. The poet tries to make the moment fresh and immediate, as if the moment were occurring right now. The haiku has a strong presence.

Haiku masters generally create two or three concrete images which are juxtaposed and compared in the short lines. These images create an atmosphere that reveals the meaning in the haiku.

A spirit of lightness is created in haiku by using ordinary, straightforward words that are specific yet brief. Poetic devices such as rhyme, meter, metaphor, and others are not used by the haiku masters.

Minimal punctuation is common in good haiku. A comma used to effect as a pause may occur during or after the first or second line. Good haiku is not just a poetic thought cut up into three lines of a 5-7-5 syllable pattern but the haiku’s images naturally and organically flow into the desired form.

Conclusion

Writing haiku poetry is a fun and enlightening activity. Writing haiku is simple enough to encourage one to get started and the results are satisfying enough to encourage one to keep going. The further one goes in learning the simple subtleties of the form the closer one gets to becoming a master of the haiku.

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Garry Gamber is a public school teacher and entrepreneur. He writes articles about politics, real estate, health and nutrition, and internet dating services. He is the owner of http://www.Anchorage-Homes.com and http://www.TheDatingAdvisor.com

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Explore the meaning of poetry and the motivation of poets with this special collection of evocative quotations…

1. “A poet is someone who is astonished by everything.”
   – Anonymous

2. “Reality only reveals itself when it is illuminated by a ray of poetry.”
   – Georges Brague

3. “The poet doesn’t invent. He listens. “
   –Jean Cocteau

4. ” In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it’s the exact opposite.”
   – Paul Dirac

5. ” Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.”
   – T. S. Eliot

6. “The adventitious beauty of poetry may be felt in the greater delight with a verse given in a happy quotation than in the poem.”
   – Ralph Waldo Emerson

7. ” There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it.”
   – Gustave Flaubert

8. “A poem begins with a lump in the throat. “
   –Robert Frost

9. ” Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement.”
   – Christopher Fry

10. ” There’s no money in poetry, but there’s no poetry in money, either.”
    – Robert Ranke Graves

11. ” Poetry is to hold judgment on your soul.”
    – Henrik Ibsen

12. ” When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”
    – John F. Kennedy

13. “Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind.”
    –Thomas Babington Macaulay

14. “The poem is the point at which our strength gave out. “
    –Richard Rosen

15. ” Science is for those who learn; poetry, for those who know.”
    – Joseph Roux

16. “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. “
    –Percy Byshe Shelley

17. “Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket. “
    –Charles Simic

18. “A poem is never finished, only abandoned. “
    –Paul Val
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