Write Better Poetry / 40 posts found
Abecedarium (or Abecedarius): Poetic Forms
The rules for the abecedarium (or abecedarius) are pretty simple. It’s an acrostic form that uses a different letter of the alphabet, in order, for the beginning of each line. Also, may also fall under the umbrella of alphabet poetry. ***** Play with poetic forms! Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs). Click to continue. ***** Here’s my attempt at an Abecedarium poem: “Basic,” by Robert Lee Brewer An acrostic poembegins with letterscreating […]
Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 603
For today’s prompt, write a gift poem. The gift could be something given or something received. It could be a physical gift (like a necklace or bicycle), or it could be something like a talent (the gift of song or gift of gab, for instance). This prompt is my gift to you. Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new account, verify your account on this site below (one-time thing), and then comment […]
WD Poetic Form Challenge: Seadna Winner
Here are the results of the Writer’s Digest Poetic Form Challenge for the seadna along with a Top 10 list. You can check out all the seadna entries in the comments on this post. Click here at any time to see what current WD Poetic Form Challenge we’re running. We’re currently running one for the chanso. Here is the winning seadna: “YEAST,” by Pamela L. King Fairies visit the old vineyard,vaulting in colorful capes.Before fleeing for the garden,they shake dust on golden grapes. Golden grapes mashed in oak barrelsbegin the journey to wine.The vintner smiles with fey visageas he tends […]
Englyn Unodl Union: Poetic Forms
I thought I was done with the englyn, and it’s various variations, but alas, here’s one more. The englyn unodl union is like the englyn unodl crwca, except it flips the first two lines with the second two lines. As such, here are the guidelines for the englyn unodl union: Poem comprised of quatrains (or four-line stanzas) First two lines have seven syllables First line has 10 syllables Second line has six syllables Last two lines have seven syllables All lines share the same rhyme at the end, except for the first line which features the rhyme near the end […]
Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 602
For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Happy (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles might include: “Happy to See You,” “Happy Birthday,” “Happy You’re Happy,” and/or “Happy Now?” Also, feel free to replace “happy” with “happiness.” Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new account, verify your account on this site below (one-time thing), and […]
2022 April PAD Challenge: Guidelines
It’s time to start preparing for the 2022 April PAD Challenge. In about a month, we’ll start meeting here every day to poem with poets from around the world. Past participants have included poets from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Germany, India, Japan, Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa, and several other countries. (8 Reasons Why Poetry Is Good For The Soul.) I’ve run into teachers and students who’ve used the challenge as a way to work poetry into the classroom. I’ve heard from published poets with multiple collections that contain poems inspired by the prompts in these challenges. I’ve […]
Hainka (Haiku and Tanka): A New Genre of Poetic Form
I feel poetry is a way of planting or rejuvenating new trees from the aesthetic old seeds, thus the poetic endeavor of experimentation and newness. I had coined the idea, precisely on the day 21st March 2016, of the fusion version of ‘haiku and tanka.’ Later the linking and repetition of the ‘fragment’ of the haiku as the ‘pivot line’ (kakekatoba) of the following tanka and its literary relevance have been conceived in the evolvement of this new genre, hainka. The new form of poetry was well appreciated by Hedonori Hiruta, Jim Kacian, Garry Eaton, Ion storr, Mohammad Helmi Al-Rishah, […]
Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 601
For today’s prompt, write a first poem. This is my first prompt and poem since the 600th Wednesday Poetry Prompt last week. But there are many other firsts available out there, including first steps, first words, and first jobs. Pick one such first and write your poem. Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new account, verify your account on this site below (one-time thing), and then comment away. It’s free, easy, and […]
WD Poetic Form Challenge: Chanso
(Editor’s note: I’ve made a slight change to how people can enter poems below. If you enter via email, please follow the subject line guidelines, or I may very well delete your entry without reading it.) I’m hoping to announce the winner of the seadna WD Poetic Form Challenge next before the end of the month, but let’s go ahead and start another a new poetic form challenge. This time around, we’ll write the chanso, a variable French form. Find the rules for writing the chanso here. So start writing them and sharing here (on this specific post) for a […]
The WD Interview: Elizabeth Acevedo
A poet, an aspiring chef, a healer, and a chess player: Elizabeth Acevedo writes about creative teen girls making their own way in a world that isn’t always kind. It didn’t come as too much of a surprise that Acevedo herself took up a creative hobby during the pandemic lockdown. But the way she brought it back to writing, however, was the revelation. While discussing having patience during the revision process, Acevedo noted that she had started making candles, and she learned that each candle has a curing time during which it sits untouched before it can be burned. This […]