Poetry Central
Reading Poetry
A great way to interact with poetry is by hearing poets read their own work. Visit our Bite-Size Poetry page to watch videos of notable Utah poets reading short poems. If you want to see a list of the videos in each YouTube playlist, click here: 2015 Bite-Size Poetry or here: 2009-2011 Bite-Size Poetry.
Here are websites for reading both classic and contemporary poetry:
Academy of American Poets
Poetry 180
Poetry Daily
Poetry Foundation
Verse Daily
Writing Poetry
We’ve gathered poetry prompts from many of the Bite-Size Poetry poets. Those noted with an asterisk (*) are exercises especially well-suited for K-12 classrooms.
*Shanan Ballam, “Mapping the Neighborhood”
Lisa Bickmore, “Invention and Discovery”
*Marilyn Bushman-Carlton, “Generating Poems from Epigraphs”
*Elaine Christensen, “A Suitcase Packed with Everyday Things”
*Chris Cokinos, “A Surrealist Game for Two”
Katharine Coles, “Centos, Pantoums, Erasure Poems”
Star Coulbrooke, “Writing Your Childhood”
*Brock Dethier, “A Thank-you Poem”
Craig Dworkin, “Found Poetry and Experimentation”
Siân Griffiths, “The Cinematic Eye: Writing Image-Driven Poems”
Ben Gunsberg, “Write a Rhapsody”
Jean Howard, “Writing Extreme Performance Poems”
*Kimberly Johnson, “Fifty Sentences”
Janine Joseph, “World into Word”
*Lance Larsen, “Pieces of Eight: Pocket Poetry Exercises”
Jason Olsen, “The Group Title Prompt”
Jacqueline Osherow, “Go to the Zoo”
Paisley Rekdal, “The Next Thing Always Belongs”
Natasha Sajé, “Poems Aware of History”
Susan Sample, “Best Words in the Best Order”
*Gail Schimmelpfennig, “Gifts to the Imagination”
Jon Sebba, “Twenty Little Poetry Projects”
More Resources
Visit the Poets & Writers page for some good poetry prompts online.
Visit the Academy of American Poets page for information about various poetry forms.
Dr. Larsen recommends these books with poetry exercises and prompts:
The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach
The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts For Your Writing Practice
Wingbeats: Exercises and Practice in Poetry
The Utah State Poetry Society’s mission is “nurturing those with a desire to write poetry.”
Questions?
Alyssa Hickman Grove
Communications/Marketing and Literary Arts Manager