'A poem is a composition written for performance by the human voice. What your eye sees on the page is the composer's verbal score, waiting for your voice to bring it alive as you read it aloud or hear it in your mind's ear.'

That quote is from the intro to the The Norton Anthology of Poetry. I wanted to start with it because I want to remind you all that whether we read aloud or not, we all sub-vocalise inside of our heads. That is, we hear ourselves read. I want to talk about writing for the inner ear, subjects for poetry, getting started and voice:

The importance of keeping a notebook

Joining the writing life

Looking to your own life for material

Using poetry to express emotion

Style tricks

Style: line

Style: stanza

Style: shape and format

Style: repetition

Keep a notebook
Poets need to work at capturing their ideas more than other writers, because often inspiration starts with something tiny, something fleeting. So carry a notebook, a tape recorder, a sketchpad, a loose-leaf binder. And like all other forms of writing, please practice awareness. Poets are keen observers. We've also mentioned keeping an idea file - I swear by them. They are good for collecting quotes, images, letters, etc. Good poets read lots of poetry, and they understand how the world works. They're not afraid to research, search out ideas, read writers' biographies and published journals.

Join the writing life
We all need to keep ourselves immersed in the writing life. If you're going to write about a frog or a creek or a mountain, know more about it than what it looks like. Find out how if affects you. Good writers take the time to explore subjects, and they study all the time. Some of these explorations can be a starting place for your writing. Poets have this wonderful permission to REALLY write what they know. We all hear this all the time, but with poetry, it works so well.

ivillage uk

The basics of writing poetry