The use of lists in poetry can be a very powerful tool. Not just as poems themselves but maybe even more as a tool to start when your creativity is low. It may be a way to create descriptions for abstract objects or to expand a metaphor. A list can also work as a metaphor, or it can be a list of negations.

Personally I think creating a list is often a good way to gather inspiration.

When we had list-poetry as a tool back in 2017 I wrote this poem:

A keeper of the past

In spring the aged librarian sees
in books the bloom;
that from the words a growth
of pansies and peonies,
of columbine and blue forget-me-nots,
and there are daisies, daffodils
and bluebells in the poetry
he learned by heart.

But with his windows shut
he cannot see how gardens
are replaced with parking lots,
how tarmac has replaced the lawns
and how the highways eat the fields.

And does know how fortunate he is
as gardener of words
and keeper of the past?

Here I have essentially expanded a simple metaphor of poems being flowers which is quite a cliché to something a little bit more interesting.

You can also start with a list and expand around it. Maybe even your shopping list can be made into poetry by reflecting on what the list tells you about the season.

Or go for a walk and write down the names of all the birds you observe, or maybe you have a bucket list of things to do before you diu, maybe a list of colors or a list of names.

Or maybe better, a list of what not to do.

The whole poem may be a list, but you may also use it in a section as above.

When you have written you poem, post it to your blog, link back to dVerse, add a link to Mr Linky below and leave a comment if you wish. Then read and react to other poems already linked up.