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Poetry Tips - Matt Windle

Matt Windle
Matt Windle - the third Young Poet Laureate for Birmingham. Matt, born in 1990, is studying plumbing at college and is a boxer. "I use poetry as a way to express my feelings and to help me calm down. I am different to the type of people that you would usually associate with poetry."

You can find out more about Matt's work by checking out information on this website.

Here are Matt's top poetry writing tips:

	1) Where to get ideas
	2) Techniques to write a good poem
	3) Deciding on style, length and layout
	4) What to do when you get stuck
	5) Other helpful tips

1) Where do you get the ideas for your poetry?

I get a lot of my ideas from people and places around me. A lot of my poems are written about real life events that have either happened to me or people close to me. I also get ideas from my hobbies and sport. Writing about things in the past is also good because those things have already happened so your poem can be very factual. You can write a poem on anything. So write about what you love!

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2) What are the techniques used to write a good poem?

To start off writing a poem just get 2 lines each to rhyme e.g. line 1 and 2 can rhyme then line 3 and 4 and so on. Or if you prefer line 1 and 3 can rhyme and then line 2 and 4 and so on. A poem does not have to rhyme but when I’m writing my poetry I prefer it to rhyme.

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3) How do you decide on the style, length and layout?

All of this is completely up to you. The more you do poetry, the more poets you listen to and like and the more comfortable you get with writing the easier you will find a style that suits you. The length is again your choice but I would suggest making it roughly 2 minutes long. That’s usually how long a slam poem is.

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4) What do you do when you get stuck with part of a poem?

Any time I get stuck I just walk away and leave the poem. The harder you think about it the harder it will be for your poem to sound good. I suggest you leave it and come back to it a bit later on then you should have a few more ideas.

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5) Other helpful tips?

Don’t force anything when writing poetry, just let it flow. Enjoy what you do and I’m sure other people will then enjoy it too. If you want to perform your poetry in front of an audience it would be best to try and learn your poetry and not read off paper but always have your words there just in case you need them. Final thing I would say is be confident and enjoy it.

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See some more Poetry Tips


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