Poetry Writing Lesson

Poetry Writing Lesson

For those who wonder what the writing process can be like: the key is in interpreting what is wanting to be said by one person in a way it can be heard by the intended recipient. Additionally, background of the people involved is necessary to create the correct ambiance if you don’t know them personally – kind of like a personality resume. A few ways that I get information when writing about people I don’t know is to make a list of their characteristics.

  1. Name – use a baby name book to see what their name means
  2. Birth date – use astrology to see if strong traits are relevant and astronomy to determine position of planet in the sky at birth
  3. Hobbiespoetrylesson
  4. Family
  5. Likes & dislikes
  6. Profession

Example – Our Own Moon

As an example, here is the pre- and post-transformation for ‘Our Own Moon’ and a bit of insight into how the client’s notes became a poem and a cherished Valentine’s Day card.

Original Notes

Resulting Poem

  • Love is hard to believe when it appears and hits you like a skyful of sunrise colours. (2)
  • It sweeps you up in its glory and when the object of that love is absent, questions come flooding in. (3,4)
  • How can such joy last?
  • Will his love overlook my faults?
  • Why do I feel like a cherry tree in full blossom all the time he is near? (23)
  • I respond to his voice on the phone.
  • I ask for nothing but to hold his hand, to look long into his eyes and to see the depths of his soul. (12)
  • I know the years we have to share can never tell me all I want to know of him & so I cherish each thought each whisper of his presence each touch of his gentle searching hands. (6,16)
  • I get lost in his kisses. (10)
  • I hold these moments of time as eternal gems of light & love. (27)
  • Quickening my heart is the love for me I see in his eyes. (15)
  • I look for his face in my dreams, in my day thoughts; it is easy to be romantic with him. It only seems to be about romance. (13,14)
  • Nothing else matters. (5,20)
  • I don’t want to come done from sitting on the moon. (1,25)
  • I don’t want to come down from our moon. (1,25)
  • I feel we have known each other for eons. (21,22)
  • Coming together thru’ many life times, reminding each other how much we have always been loved. (21,22)
  • I don’t want to hold back from him what’s in my heart.
  • The beauty and playfulness a woman can express to a man who she trusts are expressions I have not felt for years. (17)
  • I feel I can not be gently enough, passionate, or yielding enough.
  • Even when he is not with me, my heart can hardly hold the joy I feel from our connection. (19, 20)
  1. Love gave us a moon
  2. And lit the sky with sunrise colour
  3. It rapt us in a gala wind
  4. And swept us into glory ~
  5. Enchantment keeps the world away
  6. Enamour fills our passions
  7. As we joyfully unravel
  8. All our senses for romancing ~
  9. We lark upon our moon
  10. Amidst a carousel of kisses
  11. With nothing more to guide us
  12. Than the depth of iris wonder ~
  13. I’m staid in time abandon
  14. With my thoughts escaping freely
  15. As you cause my heart to echo
  16. With the wishes of your whispers ~
  17. A long-forgotten beauty
  18. Seeks your tenor and caresses
  19. In the days you can’t be near me
  20. I luxuriate in memories ~
  21. It could be that I’ve known you
  22. Every day of every lifetime
  23. That you cause my soul to blossom
  24. In a cosmic bougainvillea ~
  25. Love gave us a moon
  26. It knew our hearts and where to take them
  27. There’s nothing more I cherish
  28. Than the love that we romance in.

(~ denotes a space between the verses)