Isabelle BaafiThinking about starting to write poetry, but not sure where to begin? Isabelle Baafi, who is leading our First Steps programme, shares the important things to consider as a poetry beginner.
1. Be open to receive
The most engaging art responds to the world around us and finds life, beauty and wisdom in the most unexpected places. Look and listen out for the inspiration that headlines, music, encounters with strangers, household objects, snippets of speech, nature and everything else have to offer.
Image credit: heba alwahsh
2. Draw from your uniqueness
What moves you? What intrigues you? What is it that only you can say? When you were younger, what did you imagine about the world? What has made you who you are? Your work should be inspired by your distinct experiences, perspectives, principles and curiosity.
Image credit: Dan Meyers
3. Be bold
I often tell writers to write as though no one will read their work. That self-permission allows you to write with abandon, and also invites you into a deeper relationship with yourself. Later on, you can decide when/whether you might be ready to share what you’ve written.
Image credit: Jaume
4. Be consistent
Consistency is key when you’re starting out. You’ll be surprised at how quickly you gain new perspectives and refine your skills when you write regularly.
Image credit: Magda Ehlers
5. Read widely, closely and often.
At all stages of your writing journey, but especially at the start, it’s essential that you read a lot. For poets, that doesn’t just mean poetry, but it certainly does include poetry of all styles, on all themes, and by poets from all eras, positionalities and regions of the world.
Image credit: Jason Leung
Isabelle is running our new Beginners’ series First Steps, which consists of two alternating monthly workshops. Please find the available dates to book below:
Finding Inspiration
In this fun, interactive, beginner-friendly workshop, you’ll spend time discussing what makes poetry a unique art form, how you can find and sharpen your voice, and how you can draw inspiration from everyday life.
A Closer Look
In this fun, interactive, beginner-friendly workshop, you’ll consider the different ‘ways in’ to a poem, and the various modes for using voice, perspective and address to write poems that are fresh, surprising and unique.
About Isabelle
Isabelle Baafi is the author of Chaotic Good (Faber & Faber / Wesleyan University Press, 2025), which won the Jerwood Prize for Best First Collection, was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, and is longlisted for the Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize. Her pamphlet Ripe (ignitionpress, 2020) won a Somerset Maugham Award and was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. She won the Winchester Poetry Prize 2023 and has been published in Granta, the TLS, The Poetry Review, Callaloo, The London Magazine, and elsewhere. She edits at Poetry London and Magma.
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