I have to write a poem for our midterm exam...

Evidently, I just don't "get it." My professor wants us to write three poems for our midterm exam. I have never written a poem in my life and would not have the first clue as to what to write about, how long the poems should be, or how to make them rhyme.

Please don't think I am trivializing your question. I certainly don't mean to do that, but I will guess that you are taking this far too much to heart. The correct answer to your question is: (a) write about anything you want to write about, (b) your poems can be as long, or as short as you want, and (c) your lines do not have to rhyme. The problem with that answer is that, as a novice writer of poetry, it did not help you one bit in deciding what to write about – or in getting your budding poetry career started.

The best suggestion I can give you is to not take your first poem so seriously. Instead, use the first two or three as "ice breakers." For example, look around the room you are in. Allow your eyes to rest on any inanimate object in the room. Whatever that object is, say something funny about it. "I do believe that lampshade has a roving eye." And there you have the first line of your first poem. Perhaps the lampshade could fall in love with your cat – or anything else that seems foolish or fun. If you want to write a serious poem, do the same thing. Begin with, "My poor, dear lampshade..." and write three more short lines about your poor, or sad, or elderly, or bent lampshade. If you give it a try, you might find that you can not only write a poem, but that you may very well be quite good at it.

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