Who’s Afraid of Poetic Verse

Write a poem? Madness. I’ve never done such a thing. I don’t know how! I mean really, who isn’t a little bit afraid of the poetry monster? It’s a tricky form, but it’s not just for the highfalutin' poets of old. It can be for laypeople like us.  

One of the things that puts people off writing poetry so much is not knowing all the different possibilities out there. We get stuck with the image of Keats or Shakespeare and think that it needs to be this profound statement, written with prefect rhythm. As hardcore as that is, you don’t need to go that root. Yes poetry relies heavily on symbolic imagery and imaginative language, but can really be about anything.  

You’ll also need to figure out what form of poem you want to write, which needs to match up with tale you’re telling. That is, you’re not going to have a story, with a beginning, middle and end in a sonnet. Or a list of all the reasons you love someone’s smile in a ballad.

Here are a few of my favorite poetry forms and the sort of stories you normally find/you might want to attach to them. But remember there always can be good poetic reasons to bend the rules. 

Prose Poetry- Yeah, it’s a real thing and is exactly what it sounds like. Though it has the high emotion and imagery of the poem it also has the form and structure style of prose. Creative non-fiction can fall into this genre a lot/ There is no set subject. I would  recommend this to someone who is confident in prose but is new to poetry. It’s a nice way to dip your feet in.

Ballad- This is a story (or tall tale) written in stanzas and is sort of the next level up from prose poetry. In the sense that it’s not focused on an abstract emotion but is rather telling a narrative. This is usually done in rhyme and meant to be told orally. Think of it like a folktale you’d hear around a campfire.    

Free Verse- Anything goes. Lines breaks, rhyming, structure, all whatever you want it to be. Whatever you feel fits the poem you’re writing. This would be for someone that doesn’t like or doesn’t  know how to do the more structured ones like a sonnet.

Spoken Word- Does your poem make you feel like you want to scream from a roof top? If so spoken word poetry might be right for you. This is a poem that is solely meant to be read aloud and holds deep, sometimes personal meaning, to the poet. There is also a greater play and emphasis with the sound of words.