Look around outside. What do you see? A bird? A flower? A sunset? A tree? Each one would make a great haiku — for you! The Japanese haiku, one of the oldest forms of poetry, teaches us much about the art and craft of poem-making. The entire poem consists of only three short lines, […]
Poems About Poetry for National Poetry Month
Have you ever read a poem ABOUT poetry? Have you ever written one? All it takes is a metaphor (comparison) and your imagination! Here are some poems with metaphors that compare poems to lots of different things. What’s a Poem? A whisper, A shout, Thoughts turned Inside out. A […]
Dear Poet: Notes to a Young Writer
A poetic journey through the creative process for readers, writers, artists & dreamers. As I enter my seventh decade on this planet, I wonder what words of wisdom I might have written to the younger me. What treasured tidbits have I learned along the way? What could I leave in a letter to young […]
Predicting Your Future
What if you had a crystal ball that you could look into to see your future? You do. It’s YOU! You are your own crystal ball. In his play “The Tempest,” William Shakespeare wrote, “What is past is prologue.” That means that all we need do to predict our future is to […]
The Eyes of the Poet: Seeing Like an Artist
What joy simple pleasures bring! One of our greatest gifts is the ability to simply take time to appreciate and enjoy the world around us. Fine-tuning our ability to notice detail is an important skill of the artist and the writer. It is an important skill for everyone to enjoy! Every time you see […]
Inspiration: A Different Road Home
Want to write a poem, a story, a memoir? Need a jump start on some new inspiration? Try surrounding yourself with something new. Change is good. The Muse loves change. Turn off the computer and TV. Put away the iPhone. Go out to eat. Go to a live play or concert. Attend a sporting event. […]
10 Things I’ve Learned as a Children’s Poet
Children have the best imaginations. Children look at the world from the inside out. Children love lyrical language. Daydreaming is a highly underrated art form. When you write for children, don’t write for children. Write from the child in you. It is better to show, than tell. Style is not how you write. It is […]
What’s So Grand about Grandchildren?
It is no wonder we call them grand children and they call us grand parents. From the moment they arrive, they transform us into the grandest we have ever been. They give us new names, and we are never the same. They fill our hearts with love and laughter and other wondrous gifts of grandeur. […]
The Poetry of Life
We are all poets. Each one of us sees the world in our own special way. Whenever we look up at the passing clouds and see long tail dragons and sailing ships we are poets. When we share our visions and dreams we are poets. We are poets whenever we tell the world who we […]
