Who am I? -- is a timeless question. But not always an easy one.

The exploration of the self is central to the meaning of our lives.

From when we are little, and we see our own reflection in the mirror for the first time. To the times when the world around us starts to reflect back to us new images of ourselves.

An idea forms in our mind: This is me. This is who I am.

At one point or another, everyone finds themselves with the burning desire to dive deep into self-inquiry, to know exactly what this ‘me’ is. 

And one way to do that is to write an identity poem.

What is an Identity Poem

The word ‘identity is often defined as “the qualities, beliefs, characteristics... that distinguish or identify a person or thing”.

In other words, identity is your description. It is the set of traits you use to present yourself to the world.

These traits can help you understand your role, your motivations, and the way you choose to live your life.

Identity can be...

Love is one of the most common themes you see in poetry.

This can make writing a perfect love poem for the first time challenging. Especially, if you want to avoid cliches and dial-down on sappiness.

For millennia, people have attempted to put into words the intense emotions that accompany the experience of being in love.

So how do you write a love poem that says more than I love you? 

How to Write a Perfect Love Poem: 4 Tips 

When you think about love poems you might remember sappy cliches of ‘roses are red, violets are blue’.

But love poems are versatile because love evokes all kinds of strong emotions.

Love can feel good, and sometimes love can hurt. It can bring you healing or despair, joy or sadness, peace or restlessness.

This array of powerful feelings sometimes struggles to find a verbal outlet. It often may seem that there are not enough words in the world to describe how much you love someone.

The central question becomes but how do you express love...

You’ve heard of the creative arts, but how about the erasive? While writing any poetry can be challenging, blackout poetry demands its own special considerations, unlike other poetic styles. At first glance, one may think it easier to start a poem from given words, but it’s quite the opposite. If you’re conscious about the final message, you have to tread carefully.

What is Blackout Poetry?

Blackout poetry is the art of adopting a pre-existing text and erasing words, phrases or sections by physically blacking-out those certain parts, leaving only a collection of chosen content with a new context and meaning. People most commonly take newspaper clippings, but anything will do. Blackout poetry is simply the method of redacting and reimagining a message or story already written.

MORE>> Learn How to Write an Identity Poem

Why should I write Blackout Poems?

As with all creative endeavours, blackout poetry offers you the chance to free your mind and keep your...

When you first start writing poems, a book might seem a far-fetched idea.

Though soon enough, you’re going to have a repertoire of poems you’re most proud of and which deserve to be showcased.

Not to mention, publishing a poetry book might even become a passive income stream for you. This is highly possible these days, with the far-reaching hands of the internet. But more about that later. 

You might think that a poetry collection is just all the poems a writer has ever created sandwiched under a single book cover.

But that is far from the truth.

There is a process to creating a poetry book that is presentable, readable, and, of course, sellable.

What elements do you need to write a poetry book?

Once you know what you need to do, it’s actually quite simple.

Creating Your First Poetry Book

Whether you already have a collection of poems and wish to turn them into a book. Or you’re still in the writing process, with the book goal in mind as your final...

So you want to know how to write a quatrain poem…

Ocean waves, flower petals, the pulse in your wrist, a song you hear in the distance, a heartbeat, a snowflake…

What do all of these things have in common?

In each of these elements, you can see the manifestation of rhythm. A pattern that infinitely repeats itself throughout our reality.

Right now, take a moment to look around you. What patterns do you see? 

A painting with repeated brush strokes and color patterns. A leaf on a tree with symmetrical lines dispersing out from the mid-rib. The clouds in the sky that glide in an almost-illusive formation.

In what appears to be a chaotic world, there is structure disguised in plain sight.

Rhythm and repetition are intrinsic parts of our everyday life but what does this have to do with quatrain poems?

MORE>> Learn more about how to write poetically

What Does Quatrain Mean

Coincidentally enough, another example of a prominent pattern in our lives is - language.

...

So you want to know how to write slam poetry.

Widening of your pupils, dampness of your palms, heart rapidly pounding the inner wall of your rib cage...

These are just some of the physical effects your body echoes while, and shortly after, listening to powerful slam poetry. 

Just like music, poetry taps deep into the reserve of human emotion. It is no surprise that in many cultures, the words song and poem are still used interchangeably.

The difference between a slam poem and a song is that the strength of slam literally and symbolically moves people without any music involved. 

Through the power of spoken word alone, the slam artist is able to bridge the gap between the performer and audience, transcend societal and cultural divides, and change perspectives. 

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to write a good slam poem, the simple answer is passion. 

The most powerful slam poems do have some other important elements. So, what is slam poetry all about?

...

In our society, there is a tendency to think that poetic expression is solely a personal experience; a talent somewhat isolated from the majority of other people. 

You write by yourself, you write about your feelings and your experiences of the world, and, for some reason, that creates an elitist poetic bubble around the title of ‘poet’.

The truth is that poets exist in every community. Whether people or their society identify them as poets or not, is a different story.

Simply put: poetry is a form of communication that is accessible to everyone. It’s a way to express your inner, emotional landscape through words. And those words are aimed at the hearts of others in our global community. 

You see, poetry is ultimately a shared experience. And two voice poetry proves exactly that.

MORE>> Learn how to write poetically

The Story of Two Voice Poems

A way to understand what a two-voice poem is, is to think of it as a dialogue. A conversation between two...

Many notable minds, like Noam Chomsky - a multidisciplinary linguist, have recognized that: “language creates reality”. But who creates language and decides how it’s used? 

People. The power of creating a reality starts with you.

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘sweevil’? What creature do you imagine when you read about the ‘Jabberwocky’? Can you picture a cow jumping over the moon?

These words might seem ridiculous and you will ask yourself what is the point of something that makes no sense?

Well, nonsense poetry wants you to take the time to consider the alternate reality created by its nonsensical verses. 

There is an undeniable purpose behind the gibberish of this style of poetic expression. 

Nonsense challenges the established way of thinking. It bends the accepted use of language until it breaks open the shell of where you’ve been hiding your creative genius. 

So, what do you need to know about...