How to Write a Poem: Get Tips from a Published Poet

Ever wondered how to write a poem? For writers who want to dig deepcomposing verse lets you sift the sand of your experience for new glimmers of insight. And if you’re in it for less lofty reasonsshaping a stanza from start to finish can teach you to have fun with language in totally new ways.

To help demystify the subtle art of writing versewe chatted with Reedsy editor (and published poet) Lauren Stroh. In 8 simple stepshere's how to write a poem:

1. Brainstorm your starting point

If you’re struggling to write your poem in order from the first line to the lasta good trick is opening with whichever starting point your brain can latch onto as it learns to think in verse.

Your starting point can be a line or a phrase you want to work into your poemthough it doesn’t have to take the form of language at all. It might be a picture in your headas particular as the curl of hair over your daughter’s ear as she sleepsor as capacious as the sea. It can even be a complicated feeling you want to render with precision — or maybe it's a memory you return to again and again. Think of this starting point as the "why" behind your poemyour impetus for writing it in the first place.

If you’re worried your starting point isn’t grand enough to merit an entire poemstop right there. After allliterary giants have wrung verse out of every topic under the sunfrom the disappointments of a post-Odyssey Odysseus to illicitly eaten refrigerated plums.

As Lauren Stroh sees ityour experience is more than worthy of being immortalized in verse.

"I think the most successful poems articulate something true about the human experience and help us look at the everyday world in new and exciting ways."

2. Free-write in prose first

It may seem counterintuitive but if you struggle to write down lines that resonateperhaps start with some prose writing first. Take this time to delve into the imagefeelingor theme at the heart of your poemand learn to pin it down with language. Give yourself a chance to mull things over before actually writing the poem. 

Take 10 minutes and jot down anything that comes to mind when you think of your starting point. You can write in paragraphsdash off bullet pointsor even sketch out a mind map. The purpose of this exercise isn’t to produce an outline: it’s to generate a trove of raw materiala repertoire of loosely connected fragments to draw upon as you draft your poem in earnest.

Silence your inner critic for now

And since this is raw materialthe last thing you should do is censor yourself. Catch yourself scoffing at a turn of phraseoverthinking a rhetorical deviceor mentally grousing“This metaphor will never make it into the final draft”? Tell that inner critic to hush for now and jot it down anyway. You just might be able to refine that slapdashoff-the-cuff idea into a sharp and poignant line.

3. Choose your poem’s form and

Whether you’ve free-written your way to a beginning or you’ve got a couple of lines jotted downbefore you complete a whole first draft of your poemtake some time to think about form and . 

The form of a poem often carries a lot of meaning beyond the structural "rules" that it offers the writer. The rhyme patterns of sonnets — and the Shakespearean influence over the form — usually lend themselves to passionate pronouncements of lovewhether merry or bleak. On the other handacrostic poems are often more cheeky because of the secret meaning that it hides in plain sight. 

Even if your material begs for a poem without formal restrictionsyou’ll still have to decide on the texture and tone of your language. Free verseafter allis as diverse a form as the novelranging from the breathless maximalism of Walt Whitman to the cool austerity of H.D. Where on this spectrum will your poem fall?

Choosing a form and tone for your poem early on can help you work with some kind of structure to imbue more meanings to your lines. And if you’ve used free writing to generate some raw material for yourselfa structure can give you the guidance you need to organize your notes into a poem. 

4. Read for inspiration

A poem isn’t a nonfiction book or a historical novel: you don’t have to accumulate reams of research to write a good one. That saidsome outside reading can stave off writer’s block and inspire you throughout the writing process.

Build a shortpersonalized syllabus around your poem’s form and subject. Say you’re writing a sensorily richlinguistically spare bit of free verse about a relationship of mutual jealousy between mother and daughter. In that caseyou’ll want to read some key Imagist poemsalongside some poems that sketch out complicated visions of parenthood in unsentimental terms.

And if you don’t want to limit yourself to poems similar in form and to your ownLauren has you covered with an all-purpose reading list:

• The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich
• Anything you can get your hands on by Mary Oliver
• The poems “Failures in Infinitives” and “Fish & Chips” by Bernadette Mayer.
• I often gift Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara to friends who write.
• Everyone should read the interviews from the Paris Review’s archives. It’s just nice to observe how people familiar with language talk when they’re not performingworkingor warming up to write.

5. Write for an audience of one — you

Even with preparationthe pressure of actually producing verse can still awaken your inner metrophobe (or poetry-fearer). What if people don’t understand — or even misinterpret — what you’re trying to say? What if they don’t feel drawn to your work? To keep the anxiety at bayLauren suggests writing for yourselfnot for an external audience.

"I absolutely believe that poets can determine the validity of their own success if they are changed by the work they are producing themselves; if they are challenged by it; or if it calls into question their ethicstheir habitsor their relationship to the living world. And personallymy life has certainly been changed by certain lines I’ve had the bravery to think and then write — and those moments are when I’ve felt most like I’ve made it."

You might eventually polish your work if you decide to publish your poetry down the line. (If you dodefinitely check out the rest of this guide for tips and a list of magazines to submit to.) But as your first draft comes togethertreat it like it’s meant for your eyes only.

6. Read your poem out loud

A good poem doesn’t have to be pretty: maybe an easymelodic loveliness isn’t your aim. It shouldhowevercome alive on the page with a consciously crafted rhythmwhether hymn-like or discordant. To achieve thatread your poem aloud — at firstline by lineand then all together as a complete text.

Trying out every line against your ear can help you weigh out a choice between synonyms — getting you to noticesaythe watery sound of “glacial”the brittleness of “icy,” the solidity of “cold”.

Reading out loud can also help you troubleshoot line breaks that just don't feel right. Is the line unnaturally longforcing you to rush through it or pause in the middle for a hurried inhale? If sodo you like that destabilizing effector do you want to literally give the reader some room to breathe? Testing these variations aloud is perhaps the only way to answer questions like these. 

7. Take a break to refresh your mind

While it’s incredibly exciting to complete a draft of your poemand you might be itching to dive back in and edit itit’s always advisable to take a break first. You don’t have to turn completely away from writing if you don’t want to. Take a week to chip away at your novel manuscript or even muse idly on your next poetic project — so long as you distance yourself from this poem a little while. 

This is becauseby this pointyou’ve probably read out every line so many times the meaning has leached out of the syllables. With the time awayyou let your mind refresh so that you can approach the piece with sharper attention and more ideas to refine it. 

8. Have fun revising your poem

At the end of the dayeven if you write in a well-established formpoetry is about experimenting with languageboth written and spoken. Lauren emphasizes that revising a poem is thus an open-ended process that requires patience — and a sense of play. 

"Have fun. Play. Be patient. Don’t take it seriouslyor do. Though poems may look shorter than what you’re used to writingthey often take years to be what they really are. They change and evolve. The most important thing is to find a quiet place where you can be with yourself and really listen."

Is it time to get other people involved?

Want another pair of eyes on your poem during this process? You have options. You can swap pieces with a beta readerworkshop it with a critique groupor even engage a professional poetry editor like Lauren to refine your work — a strong option if you plan to submit it to a journal or turn it into the foundation for a chapbook.

The working poet's checklist

If you decide to fly solohere’s a checklist to work through as you revise:

✅ Hunt for clichés. Did you find yourself reaching for ready-made idioms at any point? Go back to the sentiment you were grappling with and try to capture it in strongermore vivid terms.

✅ See if your poem begins where it should. Did you take a few lines of throat-clearing to get to the actual point? Try starting your poem further down.

✅ Make sure every line belongs. As you read each lineask yourself: how does this contribute to the poem as a whole? Does it advance the themeclarify the imageryset or subvert the reader’s expectations? If you answer with something like“It makes the poem sound nice,” consider cutting it.

Once you’ve worked your way through this checklistfeel free to brew yourself a cup of tea and sit quietly for a whilereflecting on your literary triumphs. 

Whether these poetry writing tips have awakened your inner Wordsworthor sent you happily gamboling back to prosewe hope you enjoyed playing with poetry —  and that you learned something new about your approach to language.

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And if you are looking to share your poetry with the worldthe next post in this guide can show the ropes regarding how to publish your poems!