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This week: Poetry for Beginners: Part IIb Edited by: Red Writing Hood <3  
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"Every poem can be considered in two ways--as what the poet has to say, and as a thing which he makes..."
C. S. Lewis
"Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary."
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
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Poetry for Beginners: Part IIb - Using Poetry Templates
The biggest benefit of using a poetry template is that it frees you from some of the potential stress in creating a poem. The skeleton is already there for you. All you need to do is add the muscle and heart; which are imaginative images and dynamic word choices.
I am an education major, and as part of one of my summer courses I am putting together a poetry unit. While I came up with some lesson plan ideas, I was reminded that I wrote a newsletter a couple of years ago that promised more poetry templates. The first part [link at the end of this article] was almost a mad lib, in that it gave you many of the words and specific instructions for the blanks. The templates below are more like poetry forms, in that they give you a topic, or other starting off point and the rest is up to you.
BRIEF HISTORY
The following forms were created by Kenneth Koch, a teacher and poet. He taught poetry to people of all ages.
"I wish" Form
This form can be done in one of two ways. The first will be detailed below and the second will be detailed in the notes section.
MUST HAVES
--Each line must start with "I wish."
COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?
--The line length, stanza length, etc. all up to the poet.
--Rhyme or not, it's up to the poet.
--Any meter may be used-including no meter.
OF NOTE
The first way is like a list poem that is basically a list of wishes that can be linked to one another or totally random. The second way to write this is to come up with a list of wishes as above, but rather than these being the poem, they are the brainstorming session to create the poem. After creating the list, the poet then selects one in which to fully explore. That exploration is the poem. The "could haves" are the same for both.
Five-Senses Form
This form can have only five lines or each stanza has five lines each.
This template can be used:
________ smells like _________________.
________ tastes like __________________.
________ looks like __________________.
________ feels like __________________.
________ sounds like __________________.
However, the lines can be in any order-meaning smells like doesn't always have to come first, and sounds like doesn't always need to come last. They can be switched around any way the poet likes.
MUST HAVES
--Must explore one subject using all five senses.
COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?
--Rhyme or not, it's up to the poet.
--Any meter may be used-including no meter.
--Any amount of stanzas can be used.
OF NOTE
More advanced poets can use this form, and rather than use the simile "like" for their comparison, they could use a metaphor for comparison. Another idea is to create a stanza for each sense: First by creating the beginning line using a simile or metaphor comparison, and then expanding on it for the rest of the stanza. This poem would then have five stanzas.
"If I were" Form
This form allows the poet to imagine being in another's shoes. However, it doesn't have to be another person. It could be an inanimate object as well-including shoes.
MUST HAVES
--Must explore one subject by imagining being that subject.
COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?
--Rhyme or not, it's up to the poet.
--Any meter may be used-including no meter.
--Any amount of stanzas can be used.
--Line length is also up to the poet.
OF NOTE
I like to use this type of form when I forget to bring something I'd like to work on during "down" times. It is an easy form to remember and use in any setting from doctor's waiting room to grocery store line. It's also a good time to practice using vivid word choices and dynamic images.
"I used to.../but now..." Form
This poem can explore the "I used to.../but now" in a series of couplets or it can be split into an "I used to..." stanza and a "but now..." stanza or series of stanza sets. It depends on how far the poet wants to explore the subject.
MUST HAVES
--At least one line that starts with "I used to..." and at least one line that starts with "but now..."
COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?
--Rhyme or not, it's up to the poet.
--Any meter may be used-including no meter.
--Any amount of stanzas can be used.
--Line length is also up to the poet.
Source Notes:
Koch, Kenneth, and Ron Padgett. Wishes, lies, and dreams. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1999.
Tompkins, Gail. Teaching writing. 5th. Prentice Hall, 2008.
Poetry for Beginners: Part IIa - Using Poetry Templates can be found here: http://www.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/1956
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Theme: Wishes, smells, and other imaginings.
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Have a question, answer, problem, solution, tip, trick, cheer, jeer, or extra million lying around?
If so, send it through the feedback section at the bottom of this newsletter OR click the little envelope next to my name Red Writing Hood <3 and send it through email.
Comments on last month's newsletter:
Comment By: julielubrani
Submitted Item: "Invalid Item"
Comment: Thanks for the background on The Epulaeryu, It was really fun to write one!
Comment By: Wordgoddess back from the dead 
Comment: Thanks for the tasty newsletter! This really made me hungry, and it isn't quite time for breakfast yet.  Do you know if you can do this form with several stanzas, much like when you do a multi tiered cinquain, I think I will try that.
Yes, I believe that you can, at least I saw a few examples that had more than one stanza. Even if the inventor didn't intend for more than one stanza, I'd say it would be a part of one's poetic license to try it. 
Thank you for the feedback! Please keep it coming
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Poetry: June 23, 2010 Issue [#3822]
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