This is a question which has several answers on the web, but none will actually help you to write a poem. They will all tell you how to search for inspiration, how to search for that spark that will drive you to write a poem, but that’s not going to help you in practical ways. So here we are presenting the step by step procedure which will tell you how the mind of a poet actually works while fabricating a poem. And you can use these simple steps to write a poem of your own. We are giving a live example in all these steps so that you can correlate and understand easily:
Step 1 – Get Passionate :
You need to be passionate(or have strong feelings) about the topic/person you are going to write. So best time to write a poem is when you are recently being affected by that thing which will pour a surge of pure strong feelings into your mind. But it can also be a chronic thing which happened over a course of time.
My poem example: There was a time when I thought that I had lost the direction and meaning of life. My life was going so mechanical that I hardly felt anything. So I decided to write a poem. Follow the steps to know how I did it.
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Step 2 – Write your thoughts and feelings in plain language:
This is a pretty easy thing to do. All you need to do is to pour your heart out on a paper. Just write all the things you want to say in your poem in plain simple language. You can write in bits and pieces, in lines which have no relation with the previous one. Don’t bother about anything else at this moment, just write your thoughts in some straight lines.
My poem example: These are the simple lines which I wrote to express my feelings about how my life had lost direction and how I needed to find some meaning :
I chase one dream and then another and in the process, I lost my smile. I miss hard laughs. Trying to pretend I am a better person than I really am. Show this world that I am important, not a loser, not a coward but all I want is to be happy. Running so fast that I lost the direction. Don’t know whether destination is getting near or far. I didn’t stop to watch the good parts of life. I am lost in the thoughts of society.
I remember once I used to play with fireflies, stare at the stars at night.
Meaning of life seems so blurred
I miss those genuine feelings, tired of wearing this mask, want to have a clean heart like I had when I was a child.
Everything now revolves around money
All I am searching is a happy version of me…
Helping someone in need may bring some meaning to life.
Step 3 – Pick a title for your poem
Next step is to pick a title from the extract you have written which justifies the conclusion. Try to make it simple and thought provoking. Don’t try to use fancy or difficult words in your title.
My poem example: I went through the extract and found one line which is basically what I was searching for : ‘A happy version of me’. You can find this line in the simple language extract written above.
Step 4 – Take strong words out and rhyme
Next step is to take out important strong words from the extract you have written in plain language and find some rhyming words for them. This can be easily done with the help of internet. Take out all the strong words and make a list of rhyming words that you need. Remember to pick the rhyming word with the meaning close (or metaphorical) to the subject you are writing on. You can just go to google and search for the rhyming words.
For e.g. to search the rhyming words for ‘Dream’, you can write on google ‘words that rhyme with dream’:
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My poem example: This is the rhyming words list that I made for my poem using the internet:
Dream : beam, seem, scream, steam, team
Me : key, plea, be, sea, see
Lose: choose, use, profuse, abuse
Direction: connection, perfection, rejection, reflexion
Fast: past, mast, cast, last
Mask: task, glass, impasse, alas
Smile: mile, pile, defile
Final Step – Carve a poem
This is the final and most important step where you need to use your plain thoughts and rhyming words and start creating a poem. You can use the words that rhyme with your thoughts and make a metaphor out of it. For e.g. from my lines : ‘I miss those genuine feelings, tired of wearing this mask, want to have a clean heart like I had when I was a child’, I picked the rhyming word ‘glass’ for ‘mask’ from the above list and created these lines for poem :
Nights are gone I used to chase fireflies
stare at the stars in those clear skies
I miss those genuine feelings, not wearing a mask
heart as clear as a cast of glass
My poem example– So this is my final poem which shows my actual feelings that I wanted to share:
When I started to feel, this world as it is seems
everyone chasing something, every heart had a plea
my journey then started, to find the right key
but all what I needed, was a happy version of me
I started on my feet to follow my dream
Couldn’t see the water, turning into steam
I kept running and running, running so fast
neither saw my future, nor my past
Reason to start was the pulse of the world
everyone told me, that’s how it worked
Only words I could hear were ‘win’ or ‘lose’
no other option, only one I had to choose
I hit my head and scratched my knee
But all what I wanted, was a happy version of me.
I sprinted so fast that I lost the direction
No wish to return, no search of connection
Didn’t stop to watch the beauty of the path,
Missed every sunset, missed the waterfall
I lost my smile, and the person I could be
all what I needed, was a happy version of me
I started to pretend, I am important to this world
But the meaning of life seemed so blurred
Started achieving everything, won at every mile
But where’s the happiness, where’s the smile ?
Every breath is corrupt with greed and lust
All humanity lost, in the storm of dust
I miss hard laughs, helping someone in need
All what I needed, was a happy version of me
Nights are gone I used to chase fireflies
stare at the stars in those clear skies
I miss those genuine feelings, not wearing a mask
heart as clear as a cast of glass
It won’t be the same, as it used to be
All what I searching was a happy version of me
Then I stopped this running, playing the charade
Climbing that mountain, being part of this parade
There’s no meaning of victory, no meaning of this chase
Nothing is better than to put smile on a face
I went to the bottom, then to the surface of this sea
All what I found was a Happy version of me