What Poetry Tools do You Have - Tip One

Getting your tools together for OctPoWriMo: 31 poems in 31 days of course is the first thing for you to begin to look at. Now you really only need a pen/pencil and paper to write a poem but let's take a look at some of the possibilities.

What I have in my poetry tool box:

1. Composition book - I choose this over a wire bound notebook.
2. A Poetry book - Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth, Poems 2004 - 2006 by Adrienne Rich. I like having at least one book of poetry for inspiration with me.
3. Merriam-Webster's Pocket Dictionary. This and the next two are a must for any poet.
4. Merriam-Webster's Pocket Thesaurus
5. Merriam-Webster's Pocket Rhyming Dictionary
6. Ink Joy Pens - Oh how I love these pens. I hope you try them out!
7. Highlighters - I use these when I am doodling.
8. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. Miss Goldberg always inspires me when I am feeling stuck.
9. Magnetic Poetry and small magnetic board. I just love this tool, it helps me find new ways of looking and playing with words!
10. The New Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics by Lewis Turco. I have found that I like being able to pull up (or open to) a different poetry form to try out.
11. Date book for my blogging schedule.
12. Large flowery bag to put all of it in.

My flowery poetry toolkit bag

One of my goals for OctPoWriMo is to stay off the computer as much as possible and only use the computer to blog, comment on your blogs and of course necessary social media. But I plan to work a schedule so that I can have more time to explore my poetry just as I hope you will.

Tip One: Choose and gather your poetry tools.

What do you have in your poetry tool kit and what are your goals for OctPoWriMo?

Remember to share with your poetry and writing friends about #OctPoWriMo, the more the merrier!

~Morgan Dragonwillow