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Have you ever considered winning the first prize of a poem contest?
Even if you are not a poet yourself, writing a nice poem that talks about anything you enjoy, isn’t such a difficult job as you probably think at the time. You see, writing a poem doesn’t come with a manual or guide. Writing a poem comes straight up from the heart.
Sit down, grab a pencil and a piece of white paper and do some thinking. What is it you think right now? What is your major problem? What is the world’s you live in major problem? If you don’t feel inspired at the time, do not push yourself. It’s the worst thing you can do. Be relaxed at the time of writing is very important.
Before you even get started writing, and why not winning the contest with your poem, allow me to introduce you to some technical terms used in poetry. Have you ever saw a sonnet before or heard haiku? No, I am not speaking Greek. These are popular forms of poetry, created centuries ago.
Poetry consists of two basic keys. Rhythm and meter. Concerning the rhythm, I don’t think there is much to say here. Rhythm is everywhere all around us. At the train station, at school, at the office, even inside our body. Our heart is an unstoppable drummer… Meter is the recurring pattern of the rhythm and it differs from poem to poem.
There are also different writing styles and figures of speech. Metaphors, allegories, parallelisms and resemblances are used more often. I will give you an example in order to understand it better.
“Your muscles are hard as a rock” → This is a resemblance.
“It’s raining cats and dogs” → This is a metaphor.
I think you get the point.
Lastly, I will try to give you some general steps in order to help you organizing your thoughts and start writing your poems.
Step One
As mentioned above, try to relax… Take it easy… No one is hunting you down… Before sitting down and give it a shot, having a warm bath, listening to your favourite songs in your MP3 player or anything else that makes you feel more relaxed, is always a good idea and will help you concentrate.
Step Two
Take the piece of paper in front of you and begin writing anything. Yes ANYTHING! Remember that when you end writing this poem, you will consider this as your child. Take your heart out. Don’t try at first to find the exact words to rhyme. It’s not the lyrics of a song you are writing to definitely need a rhyme. And do the edits afterwards if needed.
Step Three
It’s all about beauty… Bring back the happy memories from your life so far… Bring even some bad memories… Consider that you are a painter. Bring back the memory when you were a little kid and drew big houses, green forests, snowy mountains… Only this time your brush is your pencil. I repeat, TAKE YOUR HEART OUT. In the poem there is a piece of you. And everything you have inside your heart can’t be but beautiful.
Step Four
Share your mental work. Getting feedback is always essential. Pass your poem around and ask for your friend’s opinions. Except if you believe that it is something too personal that even your best friend or your sister is not allowed to read it. It’s up to you really. But usually showing your best friend your poem and reading it out loud, helps you a lot. Makes you a better writer. Makes you love poetry even more than now. Can you imagine if none of the known poets never published their works? The whole world would be emptier and mentally poor.
Remember this: You can do anything. You can write about anything you like. If you get stuck and have no ideas to start working, take a walk to the park. Look at the people around you. Observe them. Look them straight in the eyes. The eyes never lie. This can be very inspirational and motivating. When you see all the unfair things happening in front of you, when you see poverty, when you see small children crying, take your brush out. And paint…Whatever comes straight from the heart can’t be but beautiful.
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