In preparation for Palette’s Pen Pal Poetry Challenge, opening on September 25, 2025, editor-in-chief Elyssia Nguyen and associate editor Sara Dudo compiled four writing activities to kickstart your writing, and additionally, collaborated in writing four poems for each activity as an example and guide!

An introduction (or refresher) on how to write a submission cover letter, covering the “5Ws & 1H” questions.

Had I not stolen that book, I most likely would not have been a writer.

Most of us might not have considered entries and exit in a poetic context, but one way or the other, if we’re writing poetry, we’ve used them. 
The entry: opening line or sentence of the poem.
The exit: closing line or sentence of the poem. 
These two lines might feel simple or obvious, but they hold as much importance in a poem as a door holds in the purpose of a house. 

We’ve all heard it. “Sonnet 18,” “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Or maybe it’s Walt …

You’re ready to submit. You’ve gotten your poems together. This contest sounds like the perfect fit for your …

Poet Ocean Vuong—author of Night Sky With Exit Wounds and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (among others) has …

For writers of prose, academic, technical, or even creative writing, the idea of poetry—where there are no “rules”—can …