How to Find Inspiration for Your Poetry by Reading Your Email Inbox
If you’re anything like me, you are likely subscribed to many different email newsletters. The popularization of services like Substack has made it easy to share interesting content.
Because I receive a lot of email, I try to stay on top of processing those emails. Having a large number of unread emails can be stressful. However, at the same time, I want to make sure that I am writing every single day.
So to kill two birds with one stone, I use the content of these emails to inspire new poems.
For example, if I see an interesting headline, that could spark a poem. I read once about a man who broke the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest distance traveled by a boat carved out of a pumpkin. That inspired this poem, https://bebarbar.com/2024/01/24/the-pumpkin-boat/, which was published in a literary magazine called BarBar.
Another strategy I have is to scan an email quickly for an interesting word or phrase. It could be a noun, an adjective, a verb, or an idiom. Then I start writing a poem that contains that word. Using a specific prompt can help you break through that dreaded Writer’s Block.
Now, is this something you have done in the past? If you try these techniques, I’d love to hear about how it went for you in the comments. Hope you all have some fun writing while also taking care of that email clutter!
