I Confess...
I smashed
the chicken enchiladas
dropped on
my front porch
you were
probably
tracking the delivery
on your phone
um
sorry
they were
saucy
cheesy
and hot
I Confess: I Sometimes Imitate the Best
One of the easiest ways to start writing poetry is to borrow the shape of a poem you already love. Instead of staring at a blank page, you begin with a pattern that has already been tested. All you have to do is make it your own.
I like using poems like this with students because it turns writing into a game. They aren’t trying to invent everything from scratch. They’re simply taking someone else’s framework and filling it with their own stories, memories, and sense of humor. It also makes a much better icebreaker than the usual forced introductions. You learn something genuine about people because they’re sharing through creativity instead of trying to answer awkward questions.
George Ella Lyon’s Where I’m From is probably the best-known example, but it’s certainly not the only one. Plenty of classic poems make wonderful starting points. They give us permission to imitate the form while discovering our own voice along the way.
More Poems Worth Borrowing
Once students realize they don’t have to invent the structure from scratch, the possibilities open up quickly. These are a few of my favorite poems to borrow from. None of them are about copying someone else’s ideas. They’re about using a familiar shape to discover your own.
This Is Just to Say — William Carlos Williams
- The idea: A simple apology for a small act of temptation.
- Try it: Apologize for eating the last cookie, borrowing someone’s hoodie, or finishing a bag of chips.
- Beyond English: Write from the perspective of a historical figure (“Sorry I dumped the tea into the harbor.”), apologize for forgetting homework in math, or write from the point of view of a science experiment that went terribly wrong.
Things I Like (or an inventory poem)
- The idea: Build a poem from a list connected by a single theme.
- Try it: Things I Keep in My Backpack, Small Joys, or Things That Make Me Feel Like Summer.
- Beyond English: List favorite scientific discoveries, mathematical patterns, historical inventions, vocabulary words, or even healthy habits. Lists work almost anywhere because they naturally organize ideas.
Theme for English B — Langston Hughes
- The idea: Answer a prompt by explaining where you’re coming from.
- Try it: Tell readers something about yourself that they wouldn’t know from looking at you.
- Beyond English: Reflect on what it means to be a scientist, an artist, an athlete, a citizen, or a member of your community. This format also works well for career exploration and beginning-of-the-year introductions.
Knoxville, Tennessee — Nikki Giovanni
- The idea: Let sights, sounds, smells, and tastes tell the story.
- Try it: Write about your hometown, your favorite season, or your grandmother’s kitchen without explaining why you love it.
- Beyond English: Describe a biome, a historical setting, another country, or even the inside of a cell using only sensory details. It’s a great way to practice observation instead of memorization.
Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota — James Wright
- The idea: Observe first. Reflect last.
- Try it: Spend five quiet minutes looking around. Write down what you actually notice before ending with one honest thought.
- Beyond English: Observe a science lab, a work of art, a school hallway, a sporting event, or a historical photograph. The exercise reminds students that careful observation comes before good conclusions.
We Real Cool — Gwendolyn Brooks
- The idea: Define a group through what it does.
- Try it: We Night Owls, We Marching Band Kids, We Freshmen, or We Teachers in August.
- Beyond English: Write from the perspective of a team, an ecosystem, a generation, a profession, or even a group of geometric shapes. It’s a fun way to think about identity, collaboration, and point of view.
The best part of these exercises is that students stop worrying about “writing a poem.” They’re simply borrowing a pattern and filling it with something they already know. That’s why these activities usually work better than traditional icebreakers. Instead of asking students to introduce themselves, they let personality show up naturally through words, memories, and details.
