Guided writing exercises are a great way to condition your writing muscles. Since April is National Poetry Month, I wanted to share a how-to post related to poetry. I was first introduced to Wendy Bishop’s 15-Sentence Portrait Poem in a graduate-level creative writing class. While this exercise is often composed in paragraph form, I’ve adapted it as a poetry exercise.
The following poem about my grandfather resulted from this 15-Sentence Portrait Poem. I later used it as a classroom example in a lesson plan with high school students. Writing teachers should most definitely write with their students! Feel free to check out my Grandpa Red pantoum poem over at Misadventures in Strange Places as well.
15-Sentence Portrait Poem Guidelines
For a title, choose words for an emotion or a color that represents an important person in your life. You will not mention this person’s name in the writing.
1. For the first-line starter, choose one of the following:
• You stand there… / No one is here… / In this (memory, photograph, dream, etc.), you are… / I think sometimes… / The face is… / We had been… / Now complete this sentence.
2. Write a sentence with a color in it.
3. Write a sentence with a part of the body in it.
4. Write a sentence with a simile (a comparison using like or as).
5. Write a sentence of over 15 words.
6. Write a sentence under eight words.
7. Write a sentence with a piece of clothing in it.
8. Write a sentence with a wish in it.
9. Write a sentence with an animal in it.
10. Write a sentence in which three or more words alliterate; that is they begin with the same initial consonant, as in “Suzie sells seashells by the seashore.”
11. Write a sentence with two commas.
12. Write a sentence with a smell and a color in it.
13. Write another sentence with a simile.
14. Write a sentence with four words or less in it.
15. Write a sentence to end this portrait that uses the word or words you chose for a title.
I hope you have some fun with this! Here are a couple more examples produced by students:
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Have you tried this exercise or ones similar to it?
Permission must be granted by Jeri Walker to use the images in this post.
—Excellent.
Love this prompt for students, adults, everybody!
I shall do one!
xx oo
Ps. I think sometimes I will never know you.
Great first line!
Kim, I would love to see what you can do with this poetry prompt. I’m sure it would be AMAZING!
I have always loved the exercises you present. There is always something to be learned by using them.
Cheryl, thanks so much. I know I don’t post these types of prompts with any sort of regularity, but maybe I should.
What a wonderful exercise for a poem! I’m embarrassed that I’m not familiar with Wendy’s Portrait Poem. Although I knew she wrote poetry and fiction, the classes I took with her focused on essay writing. At the time she was the Director for First-Year Writing, so everything was about pedagogy 🙂 And yet her poetry always slipped through. Thank you for posting this. I’ll definitely give this exercise a go!
Marie, if I remember correctly the class where I came across this exercise was one on the pedagogy of creative writing. In any case, it’s a great poetry prompt, and I absolutely love the poetry it could bring out of my students. It was often the first time they truly saw themselves as poets 😉
I always enjoy these exercises Jeri. I never fail to gain something of value from them. I have never thought of myself as a writer and yet here I am writing. Stuff like this helps me in all my writing endeavors. Thank you for all that you do.
Susan, if you’re ever in need of some poetic inspiration for one of your poetry posts, you now know where to look.
Hi Jeri,
I appreciate this writing prompt for students and beginners, it is quite focussed. I have used prompts but in a different manner like giving certain words or topics with the flexibility of writing as many lines as they could mange and the results were often amazing.
I have always felt that poetry flows naturally and there is always a prompt though. We have been calling it inspiration…you do possess that quality. Thanks for sharing lovely poems.
Balroop, isn’t it great how many different ways prompts can be used to inspire poetry? I don’t write much free verse myself and tend to gravitate toward prompts or strict formats as a way to wrangle what I want to express into lines of verse.
Interesting exercise! I could generate something special.
Candy, I would love to see what you come up with if you give this poetry prompt a try.
I neglected to mention how much I enjoyed your poem, Jeri. It reminded me so much of a neighbor of ours. He was my surrogate grandfather since he had no children of his own and my grandparents died when I was very young. He too had been a POW, captured at the Battle of the Bulge. He never talked much about it, just that they had beat him up for taking back to them in German. Yes, the irony. He was of German ancestry.
Marie, thank you for coming back to comment again and let me know you enjoyed my poem. I made an entire booklet about my grandpa right along with my students the first time I had them do a memorable person project. I even gave it to my grandpa. He always liked how I would write about him, even though he never said as much. I also transcribed his diary for a research methods class in graduate school. When he passed away, I was the one he left his POW diary and war medals too. It meant a lot that he trusted me with those things.
What a wonderful relationship you had with your grandfather! What an honor to transcribe his diary. I love the idea that “though he never said as much,” he did trust you and appreciated what you did for and about him.
Grouchy is a powerful, gripping poem – Bravo, well done!
Jan, why thank you! Despite his grouchiness or because of it, my grandpa’s persona looms large in my writing life.
I am going to do this exercise Jeri. I have a person in mind and I think it would help me. Thank you.
Tim, I’m honored that you want to give this exercise a try. I know you will make something truly special out of it.
This is a great exercise Jeri, and I love what you did with it. You’ve really capture the feel of the drudgery and pain of being at war and the effects it has on a person. As well , I get a real sense of your grandfather, being old and tired. I’d love to know what a roll of short snorters is!
A.K., I should have included a note in the post itself about the short snorters. The soldiers used to write each other’s names and address on dollar bills and carry them around. When my grandpa was shot down, he had 13 bills that were taken from him. He claimed that was one of the reason why he believed 13 was an unlucky number.
Excellent exercise. I’m not a poet, but I think this may motivate me:)
Jacquie, I guarantee this prompt will bring out the poet in you 😉
This exercise sounds very interesting. I am going to try this. Thanks.
Donna, if you do give the guided portrait poem a try, do let me know how it turns out.
You, Jeri, are an inspiration to the poetically challenged. And students. I bet you were a great teacher. 🙂
Laura, I think I did become a pretty good teacher, but it took awhile to get good that’s for sure 😉
Tremendous prompts and a beautiful poem! I look forward to giving this exercise a try. Thank you for the prompt
Grace, it’s so good to see you stop by! Have fun with this poetry prompt!
I confess I have never been a fan of poetry but your exercise is really interesting so I’m definitely going to give it a try. Thanks for the inspiration Jeri!
Marquita, that’s definitely a plus when it comes to exercises like this. People who don’t feel the poetic urge, or who may be “poetically challenged” as Laura put it, will often end up taking quite readily to such prompts. It gives just enough of a push down the poetic path.
I ‘ve never done a writing exercise. But this exercise reminds me of acting improvisation exercises. There’s an improv exercise called “Yes, And.” The exercise teaches actors to accept statements made by their fellow actors and respond to them.An actor makes a statement and the second actor begins their response with the words, “Yes, And.” For example:
Actor A: “I got you a Slip and Slide for your 35th birthday!”
It might be tempting to pretend it’s a joke or otherwise deny the situation. But the actor needs to accept the statement and say
Actor B: “Yes, and I know the perfect place for it in my backyard.
“Yes, And…” is all about accepting what others have to offer and not to discount something quickly because it’s something you’ve never encountered before.
Jeri – I am going to try this – I’m sure my effort will never see the light of day but what an interesting exercise. i will write a poem starting with your number one and follow it through to 15 and see what develops. I’m sure it’s probably supposed to be more random but for now, for me, that’s how I’ll do it. Great stuff.
Lenie, numbering the steps is a great way to go for a rough draft. If you like what you come up with, it’s just a matter of a bit of formatting to put those numbered steps into a more poetic format.
What a good exercise, Jeri. Am not a poet and don’t even enjoy poetry, unfortunately. But for people with an interest in it your poem and the exercise should motivate and inspire attempts at having a go at it.
Catarina, that’s quite alright! Not everybody has the urge to write poetry 😉
I’ve never seen a formula quite like this for writing a poem. It is really neat to see the guide to writing this type of poem, and then see it in action with the examples. I’ve never been much of a poem writer, but I think I will have to give this a try. By the way, I really liked the poem Strong. It really resonated with me.
Erica, do give the prompt a try and thank you for taking the time to read the sample poems I included. The output students had from this exercise always amazed and delighted me.
This is a wonderful writing exercise, Jeri! I hadn’t known of it before. I like that you tweaked the original one to create your own. Wonderful that you encourage writing teachers to create along with their students 🙂 Show by example!
Christy, I bet a poet such as yourself could really create something special with this portrait prompt.
This is a great exercise, and those poems are really compelling! (I saw some glimpses of my own grandfather in your poem.) I think writing poetry is super-intimidating, but with the structure of this exercise, I can see how it breaks it down into more bite-size pieces. Adding this to my list of things to try someday…
Meredith, poetry does have an intimidation factor in some ways, but it was my favorite thing to teach. Mainly because it was the few weeks out of the year when the students could just get creative and let themselves go a little bit with language and have fun with it. English classes tend to take themselves much to seriously at times!
Jeri — I had never heard of this 15-sentence portrait poem idea before. I enjoyed the one you write. I’ll give it a try.
Jeannette, with the tribute you paid to your brother earlier on your blog, it would be fitting if you used this prompt to write a poem about him.
Jeri — what a lovely idea. I hadn’t thought of that and I will. I still miss him and just last evening I was going through some old photographs and found one him I had taken when he was honored a number of years ago by his alma mater, Alfred University, for his large donation. It’s a wonderful photo and I’ve just framed it. Maybe I can work that into my tribute.
Hi dear Jeri!….
This is such an awesome excercise… You could even use it to practise grammar and vocabulary…
The prompt is highly creative and love the consequent poems here…. By the way “Smile” is awesome. So> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly329w4fXjU
I like the poetic twist here and the way one can take further licenses to choose the words!.
Thank you. All my best wishes! Aquileana 😀
Aqui, spoken like a true teacher and scholar! Thanks for the video link as well. Now I am smiling 🙂 Goodnight.
This is a great exercise to introduce to anyone who is afraid of poetry. It prompts their imagination for uncharted territory. Thanks for posting.
Denise, who knows? Maybe there is a chance I’ll use this prompt to write something for the poetry contest you are holding.
I really like the one you wrote, Jeri. What a great set of prompts for writing a tribute to someone. It would be perfect for a memorial celebration. Thank you for sharing it. It’s amazing how it works for just about anybody you know, if you know the person well enough. Thanks for shring thiss.
Beth, that’s a great idea concerning using this prompt for a memorial celebration. I’ll have to keep that in mind.
What a wonderful gift you have. The skill to writing poetry is something I do not have, but I respect those who can do it. If you do not have that skill, write books like I do/
William, I bet you’d come up with a fantastic poem is you tried this prompt. It really is foolproof.
I’ve never tried this exercise before. It seems like it can help get the creative juices flowing though.
Jason, yep it’s definitely the type of exercise that can jump start the creative process.
I don’t do poetry, Jeri, but I LOVED the poem about your grandfather. With your prompt, I probably could swing something, but let’s just say I’m not ready. Thx for posting, though, and let me say … I love the new title and tagline for your blog. Brilliant!
Doreen, I’m glad you loved the poem about my grandpa. He figures as one of my greatest sources of writing inspiration.
This is great! I love the step by step instruction. It really helps. Thanks for sharing.
Sabrina, the step-by-step instruction also make it a great exercise to do as a group. It always worked well in the classroom.
What a fascinating idea for a prompt, Jeri — thank you, and I’ll have to give it a try, the next time I get in the mood for poem-writing!!
Debbie, I hope the poetry urge strikes soon so you can give the prompt a try 🙂
Great idea! And I love that poem about your grandfather – so moving.
I tend to collect writing prompts like they’re going out of style, and this one was perfect for sharing during National Poetry month.