After studying the assigned reading in your textbook for this week, try your hand at writing a short poem of 10 lines or more. Sift through the examples and find a format or topic that seems to motivate you to write something similar. Remember, your poem does not have to rhyme. The main thing is to try to practice what you have been studying these two weeks: precise detail, natural language, emotion, similes, metaphors, and symbols.

Still need an idea? Try this exercise. Launch your poem by continuing one of the lines from an actual poem. Here are a few examples:

1. _______________(something happened)  just as my plane touched down.
2. I have been one acquainted with the ____________.
3. Morning comes over the roof.
4. It’s ___________ at the liquor store ( or at ____________.)
5. So much depends on___________________
6. It looked like an apple …
7. They ask if I know where you are…