on Writing Forward:

I occasionally receive an e-mail or comment from someone who asks how to start writing poetry. These aspiring writers might have read some poetry, maybe even dabbled in writing it, but they feel disconnected from it. They want to write poems, but they’re not sure how to begin.

Some are interested in producing publishable works; they want to see their poems in magazines and journals; maybe they want to publish their own collection or place their poems in an anthology. Others just want to explore poetry as an art form, for self-expression, or therapeutic reasons.

There’s no right or wrong reason to start writing poetry. If you want to write it, you should. Which brings us back to the question, how does one start writing poetry?