Types of Poetry/ Poetry starters E. Clark

Where to start So, you’ve brainstormed, right? You have a topic you might want to write about, or maybe you don’t. There’s a piece of paper in front of you, a pen or pencil in your hand and your mind just……..

Types of poetry/ starters Having certain types of poems/ starter prompts to start a poem might help you write rather than just, “Well you have a topic, write a poem.” Not everyone has natural poetic talent. This PowerPoint is meant to help you see different ways to write/ compose poems and help you feel less lost in this process.

List poem One of the oldest forms of poetry Polynesians used list poems to form an inventory of all of their islands! a.k.a Catalog Poem Can be long or short, rhymed or unrhymed

Concrete Poetry Poetry in which authors use both words and physical shape to convey a message.

Letter poem Write a poem in the form of a letter.

Found poem For a found poem, you find words from your surroundings as the words to make you your poem. You can also use magazine clippings to piece together words as a poem.

Blackout poem Similar to a found poem, you use another person’s/ something’s words to formulate your poem. You take a page of a document/book and cross out (black out) words you don’t want to use, leaving only the words of your poem.

Dictionary/word use There are a few ways to do this. This format has you choose/ have a few chosen words that you MUST use in the poem. One way is to get out a dictionary, flip to five different pages, and write down the first word you see on each page. Those words MUST be used in the poem. Another way is sort of like a found poem—look around you—write down the first five words that you see. Those five words must be used in your poem.

Image start prompt Another way to start a poem as a jump off is to begin with an image and write around that picture.

Sense start prompt You may also start a poem around any other sense, like sound, smell, or touch.

“it is” “it is not” poem Another way to write a poem if you are writing about a thing or a problem is to write all of the lines beginning with “it is” and tell your readers what your subject is not, and then in your last few lines, what IS it? You can also do the opposite—go through and say what it IS, then what it is NOT.

If your poem is not one of these… Your poetry is your poetry—do what you will with it!