How to Write a Poem Every Day

I have come to believe that writing a poem every day is easy. I would like to help you get there too.

The true challenge, of course, is writing a good poem. I can’t promise that what you’ll write in this course will be any good (in fact, I encourage you to temporarily let go of the idea of “good” while you take it). But in order to revise, you first need a draft. I think it’s better to err on the side of writing too many poems than too few. You can always take a break from writing anything new if you feel you have too much, but you can never get lost writing time back.

This online course will cover a variety of compositional strategies that you can turn to whenever you aren’t sure what to write about. You’ll get 21 writing prompts (usually a new prompt, but in one case a chance to revisit a previous prompt with what you’ve learned) that will help you write a poem, often in an hour or less. If you do one each day, the course will take three weeks. Both versions of the course come with access to a private forum where you can post what you write (if you choose), or discuss poetic process with others.

For the Basic version, there is no set time when the course takes place: you can complete the prompts and join the discussion whenever your schedule allows. The Intensive version is currently offered a few times each year, and gives you the opportunity to take the course as part of a group. Both versions give you access to the materials indefinitely (for the life of this website).

Sometimes writing prompts can be very specific, meaning that poems created from them will inevitably be very similar. Not in this course: each prompt will be a technique you can use over and over to create an infinite number of infinitely varied poems. Unless you have an experimental bent, not all prompts may seem equally viable to you, but they will help you find phrases and lines that you’re unlikely to have created otherwise.

As with any voluntary challenge, you’ll be able to set your own terms, but the invitation is to write a new poem each day. If the pace sounds daunting, keep in mind that you can turn it into “how to write a poem every week.”

Are you up for it? What might it mean for you to have 21 new poems? Or to know that, even if you feel uninspired, you can sit down for a little while and come up with a poem? An imperfect poem, but a poem.

Let us suppose that everyone in the world wakes up today and tries to write a poem. It is impossible to know what will happen next but certainly we may be assured that the world will not be made worse. I believe in the divinity of profligacy. The creation of art, okay, just the attempt at the creation of art, as well as the appreciation of it, is both an enlarging of the world and an expanding of consciousness. To write a poem is to explore the unknown capacities of the mind and the heart; it is emotive, empathetic exercise and, like being struck by lightning, it will probably leave you stunned, singed, but also a bit brighter, and too your odds of being struck again then go much higher.

-from The Art of Recklessness: Poetry as Assertive Force and Contradiction by Dean Young

Register for the Basic version of this class – $10. This version is self-led and continuously open – sign up at any time and go at your own pace. Includes access to a private forum area. Note that this version doesn’t include any workshopping: you are welcome to ask others for feedback, but it’s not guaranteed.

Register for the Intensive version of this class – $130. In this version, the class is offered during a specific time period (see below for current dates), and you’ll take it as part of a group. You’ll have access to the main forum, plus a dedicated forum accessible only to your group where you’ll have more access to the instructor. Also includes detailed private critiques from the instructor (500+ words each) of two poems, sent privately to your email.

Intensive Version Dates: January 2 – 24, 2026 (for Intensive version only – you can start the Basic version at any time)

Where: Online

Instructor: Meg Hartmann

Can’t make the dates for the next Intensive version? If you’re interested in being notified when it will be offered again in the future, sign up by submitting your email below. Signing up for updates does not commit you to taking the class. You can view other classes that may be offered in the future here. Entering your email for more than one class is encouraged.