• Poem #2: Shift Perspectives

    Write a poem from a point of view that is not your own.  You may choose to reveal the speaker's identity, or not.  That is, if you are writing from an eagle's point of view, you may choose to state that or leave it up to your reader to discover or debate. 

    For examples of this sort of poetry, check out William Blake’s "The Chimney Sweeper" or "The Clod and the Pebble."  Gwendolyn Brooks also shows us this technique in her poem "We Real Cool" in which she adopts the viewpoint and collective voice of seven young pool players. 

    -- Prompt adapted from Poetry Express: http://www.poetryexpress.org.