One of the best ways to get writing ideas is to reimagine something that already exists. Writer Nikki Grimes has done just that with her new book. Called One Last Word, this book uses lines by poets writing during the Harlem Renaissance to create golden shovel poems. To write a golden shovel poem, writers choose a line from an already-existing poem. Then they write new lines of poetry so that each word from the original poem becomes the end of a new line.
Try writing your own golden shovel poem. But make sure to give credit to the poet who wrote the original line.
Learn more about Nikki Grimes and how she wrote One Last Word.
