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How-To Poems: How to Be Star Jasmine

| Danna Smith

Have you ever written a How-to Poem? In this poetry form, the poet walks the reader through a process, teaching them how to do something new and entertaining them along the way. You can guide your readers on how to find a husband, how to race a turtle, how to share an ice cream cone, how to clean up the ocean, how to survive cancer or you could be abstract with instructions on how to dissolve in the rain, how to eat the planets, or how to be a storm. 

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Found Poem: Tiny Budda

| Danna Smith

Found poetry is the literary version of a collage. The poems are made up of words taken from a printed document like a newspaper article, a speech, or in this case, the book, Tiny Budda. The poet selects words from the document and rearranges them to create a unique poem.

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The F Word (Forgiveness)

| Danna Smith

Today I am sharing a poem from my novel in verse, The Complete Book of Aspen. The F Word is written in the triversen, (also known as “verset”) poetry form— a six-stanza poem in which each stanza is composed of one single sentence, broken into three lines.

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Found Poem: DNA Mission Statement

| Danna Smith

Found poetry is the literary version of a collage. The poems are made up of words taken from a printed document like a newspaper article, a speech, or in this case, the core values statement from the popular DNA testing service, 23andMe. The poet selects words from the document and rearranges them to create a unique poem.

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Mask Poem Riddle

| Danna Smith

A Mask Poem is when you write from an object’s point of view (or a person other than yourself). Today I’m sharing a mask poem with a twist as the object plays a guessing game with the reader. Can you guess from whose point of view the poem is written before you get to the end?

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When it Falls

| Danna Smith

Happy Fall! Today is the first day of fall and as leaves and temperatures drop, it’s time for us to get out our sweaters, eat pumpkin pie, and write fall poetry! Today I’m sharing the poem I wrote using the fall season as a verb. Enjoy this glorious season!

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Happy Birthday Acrostic

| Danna Smith

Today is my Birthday. I’m at that point where I’m far from young, but I’m not quite old (unless you ask my children). And although I curse the wrinkles and reading glasses, I embrace aging as I know it’s a privilege denied to many. So today, in honor of birthdays, I’m resharing this acrostic poem. Happy 2022 Birthday to all my readers and lovers of poetry!

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When it Falls

| Danna Smith

Ah, autumn! As leaves and temperatures fall, it’s time for us to get out our sweaters, rake the leaves, and write fall poetry! I wrote this poem this morning (using the fall season as a verb) while the orange leaves of my Japanese maple waved to me from outside my window.

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The Color of Lies

| Danna Smith

Have you ever told a white lie to spare someone hurt feelings? Or maybe the truth isn’t as exciting as the little white lie you’ve replaced it with? I recently read an online article at learning-mind.com by Valerie Soleil about how white lies do more damage than one would think. The piece went on to say that lies are color blind and that placing “little” or “white” before lies doesn’t make it harmless. On the contrary, lies equate to dishonesty no matter the size or color.

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