Learning Poetry

I hope it's ok that I put this here. I was wondering if anyone knew of free classes that teach you how to write poetry, or perhaps any good book recommendations on the subject?

Learning? tsk, tsk, go ahead and write !
(Watch the Dead Poets society )

That being said, a library should have tons of books on the matter. There are several online ones

example:
poetry - OneSearch | University of Brighton

I never took any classes or read any books on it. I just started writing as a teen and was pretty good at it. sometimes the best way is to sit down and do it. its a great way to vent or get ideas out.
do you have a natural gift for writing?

Its better to just start writing, you can learn from books and classes but it will never be truly your heart talkin until you see the beauty in your world and use your own words. Example: plain text " The tree was old and had green leaves" think in terms as " Once a seedling sparse and small with nothing to share, Now a wise weathered one with shades of envy everywhere" another example " the sun makes the beach hot and the ocean sounds cool" Think in terms of " feeling warm sand between toes as shoulders are warmed by an afternoon sun, waves rushing in greeting the the earth in a beautiful crescendo, music to my soul" Pretty much think of it in a riddle easily solved. Write, erase, write , erase lol speak from your heart not your mind and pray. And when your comfy share with others even if your scared they wont like it.

Thanks everyone! I’ve been writing fiction for over four years now. To me that is not the same as poetry writing. I remember I took a class in high school on poetry and failed miserably. I could never grasp the rhythm rules.

Now that I have to write poetry for a project I have to relearn it...ugh.

And poetry doesn't always have to have the same rhythmic or rhyme pattern. Heck, it doesn't even have to rhyme. So long as it has some sort of rhythm. Personalize your poetry. It is yours, because nobody writes like you. Do you think you could post something on here when you do get it written?

Sure I'll post a small piece for practice.

Very little of what i ever wrote rhymed. One thing about poetry is you have many variations. You can try to do more traditional poetry, the kinds of things many people think of. But really its all up to what you want it to be. The rhythm of your poetry is internal and decided by who you are, not defined by a list of rules.

Good point. Haha I am a rules kind of girl when comes to writing! But I'm beginning to understand that doesn't need to restrict me. So now the question I'm beginning to ask myself...how the heck did I fail poetry class?

lol

By the way, that's a great poem in your signature, Ug.

Try starting off with whatever falls into your head (then you can make more sense of it later if you want to)

I once noticed a pencil hangig from a hole in the ceiling, and wrote this

A pen
is hanging
fromt the ceiling
or perhaps
it is
a pencil

hardly a masterwork but fun