How to Write Poetry

[mystery_spell]

I'm not really sure if this is the correct section for this sort of thing, but I thought that I'd give it a try anyway. ;)

Yes, of course, I know that there is no formula for writing poetry. However, I'm having a bit of difficult writing poems lately, and, since they used to just sort of flow naturally, I'm at a bit of a loss right now. So, I thought it would be nice for people to share how they come up with ideas of what to write about or what they think it takes to write poetry.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I'm not really sure if this is the correct section for this sort of thing, but I thought that I'd give it a try anyway. ;)

Yes, of course, I know that there is no formula for writing poetry. However, I'm having a bit of difficult writing poems lately, and, since they used to just sort of flow naturally, I'm at a bit of a loss right now. So, I thought it would be nice for people to share how they come up with ideas of what to write about or what they think it takes to write poetry.

With me it's often a question of having written some recently which seems to put my mind - my subconscious in particular - in a state where it throws up lines that don't immediately mean anything to me but have the feel of something, a rhythm or an image, that asks to be followed up. Also there has come to be a sort of Pavlovian reflex. I always carry a notebook with me when I go to my regular cafe, and maybe 9 times out of 10, within minutes of seating myself in my regular place, some line or two occurs to me...

[Silas Thorne]

I take down lines that come to me in odd or ordinary places into a notebook and when I sit down in my lunch break I delve deeper into these lines and follow where they go. Sometimes I get lost in wandering.