Catholic Poets & Writers - helping you to give your best to God 

One of your God-given senses will be more likely than the others to begin your poems. Regardless which sense that may be, go with it! Let the poem flow to you with a new thought, musical phrase, sudden insight, fresh comparison, or whatever else catches your poetic attention.

Without censoring yourself, get your poem onto paper, then let it sit a bit while something else occupies your mind. When you later return to your poem, use another sensory connection -- preferably an opposite one from the original. For instance, if you’ve been expressing your fluent feelings, let your mind do most of the work on the revision as you consider the connotations, sounds, and subtle nuances of each word. Or, if your ear has been doing the poetic work, train your eyes to see what visual details to add.

By using one poetically attuned sense as you write and another as you revise, your work may reach a new level of professionalism. More importantly, you may discover God connects with you in ways you hadn’t imagined -- with wordplays, sounds, or images that your readers will also be blessed to see and feel and hear.

Need professional help to improve a particular poem or to raise the level of your poetry-writing in general? Consider a critique. If you have never studied poetry, however, visit the Poetry Course page for information on the poet-friendly, time-tested poetry home study course now available as the book, Poetry: Taking Its Course.