how do you start to write a poem

Greetings,
Not sure if this will help (there are so many topics on individual topics posted elsewhere, but I believe this is the most broad and inclusive) it's quite lengthy but it covers a variety of topics and has input from many P&Q members. It is not meant to tell you how to write, but to be a place of reference/help/advice to others-a place where many of the questions put forth repeatedly in these forumns is addressed, mainly to offer suggestions on writer's block (tips/exercises to break it. Inspiration, ideas, etc.), exercises to spur creativity (whether form, style, type of poem, content, etc.-just some stuff to try when blocked or to try something different), various poetic terms/definitions, a variety of basic stuff and technical stuff, submissions and poetry markets (where/how to submit your work). So hopefully there is something here for everyone. Worth sifting through(I hope). I would also appreciate any comments/additions-whether opinions or advice (personal or technical), poetic definitions, exercises, your own personal writing habits, etc.

NOTES ON WRITING POETRY
http://www.poems-and-quotes.com/discussion/topic.html?topic_id=56674

Peace, Poetry, & Power,

Gary Jurechka

I get a general idea, and then let the words sort of loosely fall down upon a blank sheet of loose leaf... Then just let the story take off faster than a torpedo, and *viola!* a poem.

I usually get a word stuck in my head. It can be a strange word like "retrospective" or a more common one, like "moon". Once I think about the word for awhile, a line will usually come with it and I go from there.

Then again, I'm a strange poet. I find meaning in my poems only after they're written.

Good luck!

Usually I start with a single word.

I am new here, but i usually start to think a story out, mostly inspired by music or a movie.

Then i start to think it out, one could say i try to play it in my mind.
Then i start to write, and the words just usually pour out.
Then i remove or rewrite the parts i do not like/do not make sense.
And voila, a poem.

Open Microsoft Word
Skim your fingers over the keyboard
DON'T THINK JUST TYPE WHATEVER COMES INTO YOUR HEAD

I assure you that what will come out is a load full of rubbish. But there will be words in there, or even phrases if your lucky that will make sense, now work with those words.
Soon you'll have an idea, then you'll have 2 ideas.

Then write your poem. Edit it, scan it, polish it, change things about, shuffle things around. Read it out loud, scream at the computer...do whatever you want.

but i assure you, you'll have something...

Works for me..almost every time

Sondos

I think of something that has happened recently...like a break up or whatever is going on inside my head and write down how i feel. thats about it.

Most of the time I sit down at my desk or a friends house and I turn on some music. And whatever comes out comes out. You know if I'm depressed about something like a friend dieing or a friend whose in pain then I'll write about that. If I'm in a good mood thinking about something fun I did or i'm going to do then I write about that,

Um, I just sit there with a pen and paper and think of what I wanna write about. thats the first thing you have to do. then after I know what I wanna write about and what I'm trying to say, the rest just comes easy. like it all just starts flowing in

My poems mostly happen spontaneously, normally if I can't sleep. Something possesses me to write so I open Word and write anything. They're normally not from any past experiences of mine, but I can tell it's me who wrote them. They get good ratings a lot of the time, and they're unique subjects. Maybe this would work.

Clear your head. you are in the poem. think of all the words you want to put into it. the feelilngs the emotions. the descriptons. people places things. passion and regret. then put it together. you are the begining. now find the words you locked in your head. and where you started in your head. is where you begin....thats how i do it. sory if its no help,. advice is be the poem. you are the regretful. the deceitful. the terible. and the awsome. now be it. any more questions email me at my_own_personal_asylum@yahoo.com id be happy to help. begining is my specialty

I seldom set out to write a poem. Something whispers to me. Be it my soul, or the muse....I'm open to experience, and the poem comes to me, is the only way I can describe it.

Well i think of something...then i write it down and it just keeps comming and it sounds great! try thinking about how you feel or whats on mind something like that.

Mandaa<33

Well i think of something...then i write it down and it just keeps comming and it sounds great! try thinking about how you feel or whats on mind something like that.

Mandaa<33

Well i think of something...then i write it down and it just keeps comming and it sounds great! try thinking about how you feel or whats on mind something like that.

Mandaa<33

Well i think of something...then i write it down and it just keeps comming and it sounds great! try thinking about how you feel or whats on mind something like that.

Mandaa<33

Well i think of something...then i write it down and it just keeps comming and it sounds great! try thinking about how you feel or whats on mind something like that.

Mandaa<33

Well i think of something...then i write it down and it just keeps comming and it sounds great! try thinking about how you feel or whats on mind something like that.

Mandaa<33

Well i think of something...then i write it down and it just keeps comming and it sounds great! try thinking about how you feel or whats on mind something like that.

Mandaa<33

Oops i didnt mean to post that many!

When I write my poems and things, it's not something I think about too much. I don't think, "Hm. I want to write a poem about..". I'll have a thought of something, or I'll think back and I'll remember something that has happened in my past, and something speaks to me, and it makes me write about it.

I'm not sure if that made much sense, but it's how I start out, normally. A simple thought.

Listen to the voice of the wind, listen to the voice of your own heart. think about what you are feeling write now, then write, just write what ever, then read what you wrote, does it have feeling? does it flow like the river wild and cool? does it roll off your tongue heavily weighted down with emotion? Then it truly is a poem

Use your emotions to write

I try to find inspiration

Sometimes I will hear a song, have a relationship, or something will just pop up that inspires me....

I just think if a really powerfully emtionally sentence and go from there

Normally something just pops into my head and I do from there I'm very good at getting the first two lines of the first verse but sometimes thats as far as I can get and then I just leave it from there.

Well i just think abouther and write a poem thts all take care

Use your heart :)

Sit down in a comfortable environment, choose a subject and it will come to you =]

I only write a poem if i have the words to say, if i think of an idea or a few lines i might just sit and work on it to make it a good poem, if not then i just let the words flow out and they come out themselves xxx

take kare xxxxx

I start to write from inspiration whether it may be things around me or events that have happened to me

I start with an idea- a scene or feeling or something and just build on it.

I once read in a book about drawing a picture and it said "you can't just chuck an image in there, it's like building a house, you have to start with the foundations and get the canvas ready for what you're about to build, then add your main image" I believe it's the same with poems, you can't just chuck random words in there, you have to set a scene first, then build into what you wanted to get across. You have to introduce the poem in the first stanzas then get into the details later.

Im a little more...random...with the way i write. usually i might hear a song or a word even and it inspires me and i come up with a sentence. I base the rest of my poem around that one sentence and thats usually how i write all my poems.