Five Places Where Every Poet Should Write

Every poet has their own favorite place to write. Some poets even have it down to a favorite place, in a favorite notebook, with a favorite pen. But every once in a while, every writer needs to stir things up a bit, and poets are no exception to the rule. Poets take familiar words and try to make something new; to help achieve this goal, here is a list of five "new" places to consider writing a poem or two.

1. Write Poems in the Dark. Think of how you would describe something to a friend. Now, imagine how your description might change if your friend was blind. It goes without saying that there are big differences between light and dark, sight and blindness, and even describing and knowing. Think of all the differences you can between something you've experienced in both daylight and nighttime. A curtain in the day becomes a ghost at night. Silence is typically more comfortable in the day; at night, every small noise might startle or scare. Try writing for a week only at night, or describing poetic images with a blindfold on, et cetera. Learn to see, know, and describe things through new eyes, minus the focus on penmanship, spelling, neatness, and so on.

2. Write Poems on the Floor. No matter how cushy and comfortable your desk chair feels, there are only so many ways you can move or position yourself. Try liberating yourself from typical writing postures. Lay flat on your stomach on your floor or bed. Sit in a cross-legged position. Try letting your back lay flat on the floor with your legs vertically flat against a wall. Sometimes a more creative body position might help your creativity flow in more unique directions as well!

3. Write Poems from a (Somewhat) High Window Sill or Seat. There's nothing quite like looking down on the world from a bird's eye view. Everything is laid out before you, and with no one very much aware of your probing eyes no one hides from you. Sit at your high place and take notes on what you see. Write about the rhythms of a busy street, the patters you can make out in a landscape, et cetera. Take yourself higher and higher; write from the twentieth floor of a skyscraper, or the roof, or a tree bough, or a plane. If you're afraid of heights, imagine yourself gazing down from the top of a cloud on a scene, and describe what you "see" from your imaginary lofty perch.

4. Write Poems on a Bus. There are strange patterns of behavior that occur on a bus. Take a seat at the back of the bus, as far back as you can go, and see for yourself! The behaviors, patterns, landscapes, and so on that you experience on a bus provide a virtual sea of topics, themes, and inspiration from which to draw. Stop and think about why people sit where they do, how the bus company chooses stops, how people converse or remain eerily silent. Write imaginary dialogues with whoever sits next to you. Write what your bus driver is thinking. Write what the bus is thinking. As long as the wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, so should the cogs in your brain to draw inspiration from your surroundings!

5. Write Poems in a Crowded Place That Serves Food (and/or Alcohol). I'm not suggestion you drink while you write; when it comes to the flow of creativity and imagination, I'm strictly against it (though I have also never tried it). However, people in general seem more relaxed under two circumstances: when they've been well fed, and while they are lightly buzzed. Interesting conversation often spontaneously erupts in bars, diners, cafes, coffeehouses, restaurants, et cetera. Use conversational snippets as inspiration. Write about that group of friends laughing loudly over appetizers. Write the history of a man who arrives sober and leaves drunk. Write the sad story of the woman sitting alone who looks like she'd welcome anyone who decided to approach her. Maybe that woman is you-write how you feel being in this place. Write about the relationship between your salt and pepper shaker, and how things fall apart when the waitress refills the sugar container. When it comes to poetry and dining, the world is your oyster!

Of course, you could probably find just as much inspiration in a public bathroom. So, write there, too. I once wrote a poem consisting of nothing but a combination of lines found sprawled on a bathroom stall's wall. You could get just as much inspiration in a hospital's waiting room ... write there, too. Write at your desk at work. Write during the lulls in a business meeting. Write on a cross-country train trip. Write in your church bulletin, or after you finish your college exam, or in the locker room before changing after gym class. The world is waiting ... write it into existence.