I will occasionally try to work poetry into my prose writing, but even when I don't I have found that writing poetry has improved my writing overall. Partially because in writing poetry I often spend a lot of time looking for the perfect word to use (like slotting a piece into a jigsaw puzzle it needs to be just right). The same idea can be very handy in prose, particularly in shorter pieces. I am often reminded of Poe's belief that in writing short stories every word must count, must add to the total in some ways. In that respect I find writing short prose and poetry very similar. Hmmm, this may be something fun to explore in one of this weeks posts.

Using poetry to tell a fannish story is a fun way to introduce non-poetry enthusiasts to poetry.