We’ve made it to July, which can only mean one thing: it’s poetry!

As the theme for this month is all things poetical, we thought it might be helpful to get our writers poetic juices flowing. Writer’s block is very real, so to help you all get your next bright idea for a poem we’ve compiled top ten tips on how to get poetic inspiration.

1 – Take a Walk

Nature is humanity’s biggest inspiration. Why not leave the laptop at the desk, stick on a pair of trainers and take a walk about the local park? Bring a notebook and pen and be mindful of everything about you, you might be surprised at how nature can so easily stimulate the imagination.

2 – Open up Spotify

Why not take inspiration from your favourite song or album. Really listen to the lyrics and the musical tone of the song. Perhaps you can create a certain poetic narrative around the lyrics or find a certain mood you want to capture through your poetry.

3 – Random Word Generator

For those who have no idea what to write, simply hop online and look up a random word generator. By letting fate decide, use the word generated to you as a prompt for your poem, building a narrative around it.

4 – Take inspiration from the land of nod

We’ve all had our share of bizarre dreams throughout our time, so why shouldn’t we take inspiration from them? Take your latest crazy dream and capture all of its absurdities into your poem.

5 – Pick up a Newspaper

When your imagination fails you, why not borrow from reality. Either hop onto BBC news or pick up your local newspaper, see if any stories particularly interest you and if so, adapt them into a poetic format.

6 – Read some of Causley’s Work!

If lost for ideas yourself, sometimes it can be good to borrow from and build on the ideas of others. Causley was a very imaginative poet, writing on a range of themes from comedy to violence. Perhaps reading one of his works will reveal to you a style or theme you may want to expand on.

7 – Get into someone’s else shoes

Take inspiration from another person whether real or fictional. Step into their shoes and think of what motivates them and affects them as an individual. Perhaps you can turn this individual’s rationales into a profound piece of poetry.

8 – Picture Perfect

Flick through your phone’s camera roll and see if any images pop out at you. Perhaps a scenic landscape pic or an image capturing you and your friends might stimulate some inspiration.

9 – Mine a memory

What’s your favourite memory? Think of one of the happiest times of your life and attempt to distil it into a poetic format.

10 – Holiday Blues

Although it might pain you to remember if you’re no longer on a sunny beach, take inspiration from any recent holidays you might have been on. You could write about a certain activity you did there or think about the culture you experienced more broadly.

Gaining inspiration can be hard. Writing can be hard. Hopefully, these tips will help you to think up some submissions for our July poetry theme. We’re looking forward to reading your submissions—stay tuned to see what The Maker has to offer over the coming weeks!

Written by Anna Craig, our Digital Development intern