Poetry For Special Occasions
Which special occasions deserve a poem?
I think there are many occasions where, if you can turn in a good poem, stand up and read it, people will have a wonderful time. It may earn you all kinds of praise and affections. So if you can stand up and read a brilliant poem at a wedding, a funeral, some kind of commemorative act around a birth, saying goodbye to a friend, or even mocking a boss. There are all kinds of occasions where if you can turn in a good poem, it's very, very rewarding.
How can I write a good poem about someone I know?
How do I write a love poem?
If you want to write a love poem about somebody that you love, then you want to be able to say something that catches their breath, that it isn't something you've ever said directly face-to-face and that they didn't know that you felt and thought that, or they didn't know that you remembered that. Try to find something that is really going to amaze them and really surprise them. It doesn't need to be something that is grand and big. It might actually be very small, but it might be because it's something unusual that they didn't expect.
How do I write a poem for a wedding?
How do I write a poem for a funeral?
I often say to people before funerals "have a good funeral" and what I mean by that is, to put it the other way, if you have a bad funeral it is appalling because all you do is remember that there was something wrong with the way you said "goodbye". So, to have a good funeral it means that all the people in the room are somehow thinking of that person in their own way. So, if you can contribute to that with a poem because you are going to remember that person in your own way, I think that will help that moment to be a good funeral. Be personal. Be observational. Don't worry about expressing too much feeling, because the room will be full of feeling anyway.
