Go Take a Walk

You will begin as the Romantic poet William Wordsworth did. You will pick a place that is majestic in beauty to you and take a walk there. Keep in mind that Wordsworth was lucky enough to be born in the beautiful Lake District in England. You, however, may not be that lucky. So, you can choose not to stick to the natural world to experience “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,” (Preface to the Lyrical Ballads). You can go for a nice, short walk in your city.

As you do, try to free your mind of all thought but this moment. Walk slowly. You shouldn't be activity saying to yourself "I am going to write a poem about this." You should only experience the movement of your body, the sites you see, and with very little brain activity. Give it a rest. Just see the world. The poems will come after this meditation.

When you arrive home, sit down immediately to write. Pick up your pen and write for as long as you can without thinking. After you have spent yourself on this rush writing, see what has come out. Sometimes, every moment of the trip comes out on the paper. You should pick the most interesting moments of this trip to write about. Other times, moments or thoughts you've wanted to write for a long time, but couldn't, will come out.