I often use photography with students to inspire poetry ideas. Whether that is showing them photographs someone else has taken, or going on an ideas walk around the space we are in to find something that interests them. This can lead to some brilliant ideas for poems because so much about poetry is observing the world around you and finding your own take on it.

I love taking photographs of our children and, normally, those photographs are of them smiling. Today I took a photograph of their muddy knees instead, and when I got home I wrote this poem. The smiling photos are lovely but there was something magic and different about this photo, which is probably why it inspired me to write.

Have a look through your photographs – do any of them inspire ideas for poems? If not, go for a walk and take a photo of something that interests you, something that calls out to be written about.