# Poem Template: Plan, Draft and Revise a Poem > Start a poem from one moment you noticed. A free, editable poem worksheet takes you from images to a first draft and a revision checklist, with an original worked example. Start a poem from one moment you noticed. A free, editable poem worksheet takes you from images to a first draft and a revision checklist, with an original worked example. [Download Markdown starter](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/poem-draft/download) Opens as a new Plot project once you sign in or create a free account. Inkwell keeps this copy for 24 hours. Open this worksheet in Plot to keep writing, or download it for your text editor. ## Preview the download The Markdown file as it reads in a Markdown app. Open the source below for the exact text the download contains. ### Poem worksheet Working title: \[title] The moment: \[one thing you saw, heard or remember, with a time and a place] The feeling underneath: \[what the moment makes you feel, in plain words, for you only] Form: \[free verse, or a fixed form such as haiku, sonnet or villanelle] #### Images - Something you can see: \[image] - Something you can hear, smell, taste or touch: \[image] - A comparison that is yours, not a cliché: \[image] - The detail only you would notice: \[image] #### First draft \[Write the poem here. Do not stop to fix it. Break a line where you would pause if you read it aloud.] #### Ending - Last image: \[the picture the reader is left with] - Turn: \[what changes, or what the speaker understands, before the end] #### Revision checklist - Read it aloud. Mark every line where you stumble. - Cut words that only explain the feeling the images already show. - Replace weak verbs and vague nouns with exact ones. - Check each line break: does the last word of the line deserve the pause? - Read the first and last lines together. Does the poem travel? #### Worked example — Bus Stop, January The moment: an old man at a bus stop at dawn, holding a cup of coffee he does not drink. The feeling underneath: waiting for someone who is not coming. Form: free verse, three short stanzas. He holds the coffee the way you hold a hand, not drinking it. The 6:10 comes and opens its doors and closes them. Steam rises from the lid like a word he has decided not to say. This is a short example, not a finished poem. Notice that the feeling is never named: the coffee, the bus and the steam carry it. **View Markdown source** ``` # Poem worksheet Working title: [title] The moment: [one thing you saw, heard or remember, with a time and a place] The feeling underneath: [what the moment makes you feel, in plain words, for you only] Form: [free verse, or a fixed form such as haiku, sonnet or villanelle] ## Images - Something you can see: [image] - Something you can hear, smell, taste or touch: [image] - A comparison that is yours, not a cliché: [image] - The detail only you would notice: [image] ## First draft [Write the poem here. Do not stop to fix it. Break a line where you would pause if you read it aloud.] ## Ending - Last image: [the picture the reader is left with] - Turn: [what changes, or what the speaker understands, before the end] ## Revision checklist - Read it aloud. Mark every line where you stumble. - Cut words that only explain the feeling the images already show. - Replace weak verbs and vague nouns with exact ones. - Check each line break: does the last word of the line deserve the pause? - Read the first and last lines together. Does the poem travel? ## Worked example — Bus Stop, January The moment: an old man at a bus stop at dawn, holding a cup of coffee he does not drink. The feeling underneath: waiting for someone who is not coming. Form: free verse, three short stanzas. He holds the coffee the way you hold a hand, not drinking it. The 6:10 comes and opens its doors and closes them. Steam rises from the lid like a word he has decided not to say. This is a short example, not a finished poem. Notice that the feeling is never named: the coffee, the bus and the steam carry it. ``` ## How do I start writing a poem? Start with one specific moment rather than a big subject. Write down what you saw, heard and felt, then let those images carry the poem. The worksheet asks for the moment first for that reason. ## Should my poem rhyme? Only if rhyme helps the poem. Most poems written today are free verse. If you choose a fixed form such as a sonnet or a villanelle, its rhyme scheme is part of the form, and the glossary pages show each pattern. ## Can I use the template without an Inkwell account? Yes. Download the Markdown file or copy the visible worksheet and keep writing in any editor. Open it in Plot to draft and revise with your save points beside the poem. ## Related templates - ### [Novel Outline Template with a Chapter Example](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/novel-outline) [Plan a book from its central conflict to a chapter-by-chapter outline. Download a free, editable novel worksheet with an original worked example and a revision checklist.](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/novel-outline) [Get the template](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/novel-outline) - ### [Character Profile Template for Fiction Writers](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/character-profile) [Download a character profile worksheet that connects goals, beliefs, relationships, and scene evidence to a defining choice and its consequences.](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/character-profile) [Get the template](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/character-profile) - ### [Screenplay Beat Sheet Template](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/beat-sheet-canvas) [Outline the choices and consequences in your screenplay with a reusable beat sheet and a worked example of one story's turning points.](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/beat-sheet-canvas) [Get the template](https://www.inkwell.software/templates/beat-sheet-canvas) ## Related resources - ### [Follow the poem from idea to finished draft](https://www.inkwell.software/learn/how-to-write-a-poem) [Read the nine-step guide to writing a poem, from the first image to revision and where to share it.](https://www.inkwell.software/learn/how-to-write-a-poem) [Read more](https://www.inkwell.software/learn/how-to-write-a-poem) - ### [Choose the shape of each stanza](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/stanza) [See how stanzas, quatrains and couplets group the lines of a poem, with examples.](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/stanza) [Read more](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/stanza) [← All templates](https://www.inkwell.software/templates) --- Canonical page: