The Poem Workshop

Write a poem about a person’s encounter with The Angel of Death/the Grim Reaper.

Spend some time leafing through the newspaper and write a poem based on a news story. It can be from a headline or the story itself.

From the two words “what remains” write a poem. How do these words affect you? What do they mean? Do they refer to anyone? Did someone say them?

Read the first stanza of “Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies” by Edna St. Vincent Millay and only the first stanza. Without reading the poem in its entirety, from only this stanza continue the poem with the idea of what that statement means to you. How is childhood the kingdom where nobody dies? Is it really that?

Take some time and reflect on something that happened while working. It can be anything, big, small, funny, or mundane. Then write a poem about it and end the poem with an idiom.

If you have the urge, take a seat in the midst of nature and memorize all you can about the moments you spend there. Experience every sense and then go somewhere quiet and write a poem about what you remember.

Write a poem about the person who’s death this poem is describing. The poem may be about the person, the actual death, the event that caused the death, or anything else that may come to mind. Try to incorporate one of the images from this poem into your poem.