The term ars poetica means “the art of poetry” and is a poem about poetry. Homer may have started the tradition, but poets have long continued it. For more information, check out this discussion (and links to poems) from the Academy of American Poets. Modern poets usually seek less to prescribe or define than to reflect upon their individual writing, often with humor. I particularly love Dorothea Lasky’s “Ars Poetica” (so much so that I used her line “I want to make my face a poem” as an epigraph). Sharon Olds with “Take the I Out” and Terrance Hayes with “Ars Poetica With Bacon” demonstrates how much range a poet has in creating this type of poem (and how creatively and beautifully it can be done).
Your prompt for the day: write your own ars poetica. Bonus points if it includes another field of study (perhaps physics or law) or references pop culture (perhaps Kids in the Hall or The Simpsons or My Little Pony, anything you like). But, you earn all the points if you write the poem. I promise.
