The current poll is difficult to answer honestly. It forces us to balance our feelings about ourselves with the expectations that we will be gracious, humble and, far worse, politically correct. It requires us not only to be aware of our talent and work ethic but also to be comfortable sharing that assessment (even [...]

At least half of those who responded to the current “read write poll” believe that “growing poetically” is the hardest part of being a poet. I am thrilled about that!
I am not happy that you’re struggling to grow poetically, but I am happy that you want it. It tells me that this community sees [...]

From now until midnight one week from today, comments on this post will be open, so you can leave a permalink to your blog post for this week’s contribution to poems related to the weather, or any other poem or poem-like writing you’d like to share this week.
Be sure to check back in the week [...]

I grew up in Northern Maine where we claimed ownership of the phrase: “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.” We had two seasons: winter and Fourth of July. We consulted The Farmer’s Almanac and the width of stripes on caterpillars to know how much snow we’d have. We believed the number [...]

If you Google “temperamental artist stereotype,” you find heavy representation of articles from the world of psychiatry. It’s not difficult to argue mental illness in many famous artists and writers: Van Gogh cut off his ear and Sylvia Plath put her head in the oven, for example.
There are dozens of these tragic stories about [...]

I always wanted to be a poll dancer, and it’s appropriate that this poet’s first foray into the field is figurative. I’ll be “poll dancing” - launching a discussion about our sidebar polls - every couple of weeks here at Read Write Poem.
The current poll asks, “How often do you organize your poetry-related life?” [...]

Note: We’ll be commenting on the results of Read Write Poll #2 soon and will let you know what kinds of things you can look forward to seeing on the site as it evolves.
Thanks to everyone for your feedback about the content you would like to see here. Please take a moment to do the [...]

Not like that. Shame on you!
Consider three pieces of your life: three towns, three people, three favorite traditions, three rooms, three body parts, three hobbies, three hats. You could even go crazy and mix it all up, picking one piece from different “categories.” Write a single poem about all three. Try to work from concrete [...]