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How to Write a Poem
Art by Mark Ward; Inside Creative House/Shutterstock.com (Teen)
Celebrating Naomi Shihab Nye The work of this talented poet inspired Kwame Alexander to write this poem!
Hush.
Grab a pencil
some paper
spunk.
Let loose your heart—
raise your voice.
What if I have many voices?
Let them dance together
twist and turn
like best friends
in a maze
til you find
your way
to that one true word
(or two).
Roberto Ricciuti/Getty Images (Kwame Alexander)
Meet the Poet
Kwame Alexander wrote his first poem as a Mother’s Day gift for his mom. He was 12. Now he writes books for young readers. His most famous, The Crossover, is a novel about basketball written in poetry.
“How to Write a Poem” from OUT OF WONDER. Text copyright © 2017 by Kwame Alexander. Reproduced by permission of the publisher Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.
What do you think it means to let your “many voices” dance together?
Who is speaking here? What might it mean to have many voices?
Spunk means “bravery or nerve.” Why might this be useful when writing a poem?