Poetry Task Cards

Write about something in your life that you do every day. If you want an added challenge, make the first and last lines the same or similar. / Write about an event that has taken place in the past year. For an added challenge, try to capture both positive and negative aspects of the event. / Write a poem that ends with the word “quiet.”

Create a poem that uses one of the following word combinations (they don’t have to be in the same line):
fourth, thighs, knot
boot, tune, fool
but, feet seize. / Find an original way to describe a chair and make that the first line of your poem.
/ Center a poem around things that cause the same emotion. Think of things which scare you or which you love.
Write a poem that demonstrates strong emotion without ever stating what that emotion is. / Write about yourself in the third person. / Write a poem as if it were a letter to a friend. Start your poem with at piece of advice.

Poetry Task Cards

Find a news or opinion article. Look for a story that has some emotional impact on you and use that story as the basis for your poem. / Get out of the house/school and write in a new place. Write about the place you choose to go to. Don’t just rely on what you see. Describe the smells, tastes, sounds; give the full picture. / Read a poet you don’t like. Figure out what they do that upsets you. How would you approach the same subject matter? Write a poem that addresses some of the same subject/style/tone of the poet you dislike but do it in your own style.
Write a poem that begins with a negative image or statement and ends with a positive image or statement. / Write a poem that begins and ends with the same word. / Center a poem around things that are the same color. Think of things in your favorite color.

Write about the first time you did something. / Write a poem describing yourself as an animal, object, or place.
/ Remember Sally sold sea-shells by the sea shore? Pick a letter of the alphabet. List some nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs which begin with your letter and create a tongue twister.

Compiled by Laurie Eaton