Creative Writing
How to Write a Letter Poem
Ideas, prompts, and examples for writing poetry inspired by letters
One of my favorite exercises involves writing a poem in the form of a letter. A letter is one of those “everyday” modes of communication which invites creative interpretations. I hope the writing prompts below will encourage you to explore the letter as an adaptable form of writing, whether you primarily write poetry, fiction, or nonfiction (or all of the above!).
Writing a poem in the form of a letter connects you with a long tradition of letter-writers who proven it as a flexible literary form. There are super-short poems in the form of letters (we’ll explore one below), and there are fiction and nonfiction books written entirely in the form of a letter or series of letters, such as The Color Purple by Alice Walker and De Profundis by Oscar Wilde.
One of my best friends, Marcia Woodard, writes creative nonfiction, and she likes to write a poem as a brainstorming tool to find a road into the ideas that she wants to develop into a longer prose piece. In other words, this can be a fruitful activity, even if you don’t usually call yourself a poet.
Exercise: Write a poem inspired by the form of a letter. This could mean writing something as…
