Until then, I was just thinking about describing images and dancing around feelings. I was reusing the same old words and, it seemed to me, running out of ideas. I was starting to feel a little down on myself: if my well of creativity ran dry when it comes to poetry, how long before the same thing happens to my fiction?

Thankfully, I came across one exercise that completely changed how I approach writing poetry. Take a picture, any picture. It could be from nature (ex., mountains, rivers, fields, flowers), from a cityscape (ex., sky scrapers, city lights), from your home, your backyard, your pets, your family. It could even be a picture you yourself didn’t take; borrow one from the internet and take a look.