All of us get writer's block. This topic is to unlock your creativity. First of all, you will need to pick a subject or idea. Anything that interests you for a poem theme. For example, the first lesson on the Five Senses asks for a poem using touch and sound…

Writing poetry is best described as a composition that uses literary techniques and is not prose. Writing Prose is best described as writing that uses ordinary speech or language, such as a story or letter. However, there is such a thing as prose poetry that…

Figurative Language: language that contains or uses figures of speech, especially metaphors. Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A…

Recorded at Poets Forum 2014 as part of our Chancellors Conversations—a series of intimate talks during which the Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets examine issues central to poetry today. In this video, Naomi Shihab Nye discusses her thoughts and…

Reader 1: For 15 years I’ve made my living as a freelance writer and have been grateful for the variety and stimulation that comes with this work. Until recently. For about six months, I’ve been battling something more than writer’s block — it’s almost a…