Way back in the day, 1996, when the Internet was young, I joined a poetry forum. With my welcome message from the moderator, I was directed to a list of words which one must never use in a poem.

Oh really ... ;->

Forbidden words in poetry ...?

Whilst transferring an old static website, this collection of poetry exercises called Sanctuary Poems dated March 2000 was found in a sub folder.

These poetry exercises use imagery of environments (Project Sanctuary habitats) to create a metasong flow. But apart from that, they're cool and even the html is a poetic blast from the past.

Enjoy The Sanctuary Poems.

A visitor asked, "How do I write a riddle poem?" Great question! Great inspiration - a riddle poem is a brilliant poetry exercise, and it produces quite amazing poems. Riddle poems are also especially easy to do, and the process how you come up with a deep and meaningful riddle poem is straightforward.

Here is how to write a riddle poem, step by step - plus three riddle poems for examples as well. Enjoy!

Now everyone nose  that for a magic spell to work, it has to be like a poem, with rhythm, and of course, it has to rhyme. But oh! Making a poem that rhymes is sooo difficult!!!

Take heart, my witchy friend! Here is an easy peasy lemon squeezy simple little poem and poetry exercise in rhythm and rhyme that will help you rhyme with the best in no time at all.

Poetry personification is a wonderful thing - as old as shamans dancing, "becoming" the bear, the horse, the eagle and in so doing, taking a different point of view, taking a different perspective, learning something important, having an amazing experience. Personification exercises are amongst the most interesting poetry exercises there are - by all means, have a go! This is mine today, I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading the personification poem "I am the wind" :-)

For many years now, I have routinely recommended Laura Ingall's "Little House On The Prairie" as THE book to choose for people who want to learn to read properly - like a proper reader would, not sounding out words on a string but stepping into an alternate reality where you feel, see, hear and EXPERIENCE the story. The reason for this is that Laura Ingalls used to describe the world to her blind sister Mary and thus became an expert at "making the world come to life" for another person in as few words as possible. If, as a writer of poetry or a writer in general, you would like to make it easy for your readers to step into YOUR reality, then Laura Ingalls is the perfect model for this.

Here is a simple poetry exercise based on Laura Ingalls and her unique experiences.

This poetry exercise from 2003 has helped lots of people "get into the flow" of writing poetry that doesn't come from the thinking mind since it was first published. A very useful poetry exercise that goes way beyond "just writing poetry" and every time I do this, I am again and again amazed at the wonderful sensations that come when visions, feelings, images and energies simply stream into your mind, and through your fingertips onto the keyboard. Highly recommended!