Lynda’s Journal –

  How to Write an Acrostic Poem

First I will give you directions for writing this poem.

Next, I will give you an example of an Acrostic Poem.

I used  my own name as the starting point.

“The Sky Visited Me”

About the ACROSTIC POEM:

Tthis is  an  old poetry form  often used  by poets to send secret messages to a loved one.

You can begin by thinking of only ONE WORD.

:Write the letters of that word down the left side of the page –

Example:

I will use my name to begin this poem

My name is Lynda.
Here is how I would write  the letters of my name  to begin the acrostic poem:

L
Y
N
D
A

STEP TWO_

Begin each line of your poem using the letter of your WORD, for each line, as you write it.

Yes! It is that easy!

Here is what I wrote  using the letters from my name, LYNDA.

My Poem:

“Dangerous Cats”

by Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2015

Lavender mists covered the pathway in the woods
Yesterday the sky was gloomy and dark
Nevertheless large black crows visited me
Dangerous cats were near the nest
All the birds are on high alert this morning

**********

Would you like a Surprise?

Now, I want you to change it UP a bit.

You wrote the STRAIGHT ACROSTIC POEM.

At this time, I ask you to rewrite that poem:

mix up the lines

scrambling the lines and words  into a new order.

 You will disguise the original acrostic letters you used to begin the first poem, too.

You should have a nice surprise when you take this next step!

Here is when the MAGIC enters your poetry!

**********

“the sky visited me”

by Lynda McKinney Lambert

near the nest
all the birds were covered

by lavender mists

gloomy and dark

this morning

 large black crows

the pathway

was  dangerous

the sky visited me

yesterday

on high alert

all cats are in the woods

nevertheless

**********

Lynda McKinney Lambert. Copyright 2015.   Updated 2025.   All Rights Reserved.