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If you look around, there are plenty of ugly things … but can you use words to make them beautiful? Try to create a list of things that are “ugly,” and then look for a poetic way to transform them. Sometimes, just by paying attention to something “ugly,” we begin …

In “Anticipation: One View,” Candice Stover paints a picture in great detail of what/who she might like to be in the future. She paints it will all the senses—raspberries, colors, sounds (voice & song) and textures (wisps). What makes this poem work is what she never brings up … who …

One wonderful side effect of a poetic practice: It can lead us toward great compassion, as past US poet laureate Louise Gluck exemplifies in her poem “Witchgrass,” pasted below. There are so many groups of people that as a society we try to marginalize, weed out, separate ourselves from, and …

What kind of advice are people giving you? Do you agree with what they say? Why not try to write a poem about what other people think is a good idea and how you respond to it. In the poem “Advice” by Naomi Shihab Nye, the poet gets some advice …

The Day of the Sun —Vijay Seshadri Arriving early at the limit of understanding, I managed to find a good seat, and settled in with the others, who were fanning away the heat with their programs full of blank pages. The orchestra was in place, and soon the show started. …

Ever feel as if a person is not listening to you? What might you try to get them to hear what you say? Why not become an instrument and speak to them through music. And if you were an instrument, what would you be? How would you play? For whom …

A girl became a stump became a leaf that fell come fall as leaves should do. As her report cards always said, She follows directions well. Directions became potato shoots, that know only to reach toward light. And light, she found it where she could, in poetry, cello strings, rooms …

More poems are written about love than any other subject. Death is, perhaps, second, followed by a big emotional bouquet: anger, despair, loneliness, greed, fear, lust, misunderstanding, gratitude. These are, after all, the most important things to write about. Notice that everything in the above list is abstract. You can’t …

Here’s a fabulous exercise for dealing with feeling out of control, given to me by Catherine O’Neil Thorne, of Art from Ashes. Give yourself less than 3 minutes to complete each of the first four steps. Try not to look ahead before completing the last step. Don’t get too caught …

For inspiration, I suggest reading Lost by David Wagoner (even Oprah likes it). When have you felt lost? Try to remember the details of what was around you. Write them down, just in list form. What did you hear? What did you smell? What did you see? And now focus …