Poem Starters and Creative Writing Ideas
Here are lots of poem starters that you can use for your own poetry writing. (If you're looking for story starters instead, click here). At the bottom of the page, you'll find links to more pages with creative writing ideas.
Poetry ideas - Write a poem about:
- Night-time
- A particular color
- Being underwater
- A person whose life you're curious about
- Your mother's perfume
- Falling asleep or waking up
- Growing older
- The feeling of getting lost in a book
- How to know if you're in love
- A bad dream
- A ghost
- Your city, town, or neighborhood
- An important life choice you've made
- Spring, summer, fall, or winter
- Something most people see as ugly but which you see as beautiful
- Jealousy
- Becoming a parent
- An event that changed you
- A place you visited -- how you imagined it beforehand, and what it was actually like
- The ocean
- Forgetting
- The speed of light
- A voodoo doll
- Reflections on a window
- A newspaper headline
- Your greatest fear
- Your grandmother's hands
- A particular toy you had as a child
- Being invisible
- A time you felt homesick
- Having an affair, or discovering your partner is having one
- Birthdays
- A favorite food and a specific memory of eating it
- An imaginary city
- Driving with the radio on
- Life in an aquarium
- Dancing
- Walking with your eyes closed
- What a computer might daydream about
- Time travel
- Brothers or sisters
- Your job, or a job you've had
- Weddings
- Leaving home
- Camping
- A zoo
- A historical event from the perspective of someone who saw it firsthand (You will have to do some research for this).
- Holding your breath
- Intimacy and privacy
- A time you were tempted to do something you feel is wrong
- Physical attraction to someone
- A superstition you have
- Someone you admire
Learn techniques for writing successful poems in our online course.
Poem starters- the five senses
- Write about the taste of: an egg, an orange, medicine, cinnamon
- Write about the smell of: burning food, melting snow, the ocean, your grandparents' home, the inside of a bus, pavement after the rain
- Write about the sound of: a radio changing channels, a dog howling, a football or baseball game, your parents talking in another room
- Write about the sight of: lit windows in a house when you're standing outside at night, someone you love when he or she doesn't know you're watching, a dying plant, shadows on snow
- Write about the feeling of: grass under bare feet, a really bad kiss, the headrush when you stand up too fast, sore muscles, falling asleep in the back seat of a moving car.
Poem starters- three elements
Write a poem that contains all three of the elements in any of the lists below:
- a dessert, a memory, and someone in your family
- dancing, a pitch-black room, and the smell of lilacs
- a balloon, smoke, and a keyhole
- a secret box, an ice cube tray, and a velvet ribbon
- a betrayal, soap, and a plane ticket
Poem starters - keep writing
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