After many years of teaching and writing and searching for assignments which will result in great poems and vast and quick improvement of writing skills, I believe that the following (or a variation of) is the best. Period. This is true whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced writer or even a “professional” writer needing a jump start or something to break the infamous “writer's block.” It may sound odd, it may go against everything you believe about poetry writing and writing in general, but please trust me and do it.

I don't promise you that this exercise will be easy but it is great. Please take it seriously and do the best you can.

Read the assigned poems until you find something that interests you and then, using your own subject matter, imitate it. If possible, try to follow the line as closely as possible using nouns, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs just as the original writer does. You will go off some, but follow it as closely as you can. Also, try for the music that the original writer uses and for the same "sound" of words, the same impulse toward metaphor, and most importantly, the same impulse toward specificity, concreteness, and full description.

This exercise was taken from course materials prepared by Judy Jordan,
Southern Illinois University