• Write a group poem. Choose a topic. Brainstorm words and expressions about that topic. The group chooses and rearranges some of the words and expressions on the brainstormed list to create the poem. The facilitator or one group member writes as the rest of the group decides how the poem will go.
• Write poetry about childhood memories, cherished relatives or friends, or special objects.
• Use photographs to inspire poems. Describe the photograph. Don’t worry about the form – just write down the ideas as they come to mind. The great thing about poetry is that thoughts that come in phrases and sentence fragments can be used in poems – as is! Complete sentences are not necessary as in other forms of writing.
• Learners could write poems from their journal entries. They might be based on responses to interviews, moving encounters with relatives or Elders or other significant journal entries.
• Write poems that are conversations between two people.

Anaana,
I wish I were wolf.
	Son,
	You’d be too hungry.
Anaana, 
I wish I were falcon.
	Son,
	You’d be too proud.
Anaana, 
Carry me on your back.
	That yes
	Right away!²

• As the group reads and writes poetry, the facilitator can point out techniques such as using metaphors and similes to paint verbal pictures. For example: safe and secure as winter ice; the dancer’s hands flutter like the wings of a bird.
• At first you can provide models or templates for writing different kinds of poems to get people started.

Write a haiku

Haikus are a Japanese form of poetry that has 17 syllables arranged in a three–line pattern:

2. Adapted from Enriching our Lives; Poetry Lessons for Adult Literacy Teachers and Tutors by Francis E. Kazemek and Pat Rigg, published by International Reading Association, 1995