Persona Poems
Persona Poems
Wear Someone Else’s Skin
Wear Someone Else’s Skin
Write a persona poem, a poem where you take on the voice of someone (or something) else. You must fully inhabit their perspective—their thoughts, emotions, speech patterns, and worldview.
A historical figure, but modernized. (What would Abe Lincoln’s text messages to the Confederacy sound like? How would Marie Antoinette’s Instagram captions read?)
A celebrity or fictional character, but rewritten in a different style. (What if Drake and Kendrick dropped disses in Shakespearean iambic pentameter?)
A regular person in an extreme situation. (A barista serving coffee during the apocalypse, a janitor cleaning up after a wizard duel, etc.)
A non-human perspective. (A poem written by a dying star, a city, a ghost, an old voicemail, or even the last slice of pizza in the box.)
You are not just writing about this person or thing—you are writing as them.
The poem must be written in first person, fully in character.
The voice and style should match who or what the speaker is.
The poem should give us insight into their mind, emotions, or a specific moment in their life.
You are encouraged to modernize, reimagine, or completely flip the expected perspective.
Study how they speak. If your persona is a rapper, a king, or a scientist, their word choice, rhythm, and attitude should reflect that.
Give them a problem or moment to react to. What do they want? What do they fear? What are they hiding?
Blend humor and depth. A funny take on a historical figure can still reveal real emotions and struggles.
Don’t be afraid to get weird. A poem from a vending machine refusing to drop a bag of chips could be surprisingly poetic.
Abraham Lincoln’s Texts to the Confederacy
Julius Caesar’s Last Tweets Before Getting Stabbed
Cleopatra’s Yelp Review of the Asp That Killed Her
Oppenheimer’s Late-Night Google Search History
Shakespearean Rap Battle: Kendrick vs. Drake
A Black Hole Writing a Love Letter to a Dying Star
The Last Woolly Mammoth’s Ice-Age Blog Post
The Trojan Horse’s Diary Entry on the Night of the Attack
Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife (poems from the perspectives of famous women—or the wives of famous men)
Natasha Trethewey’s Persona Poems in Native Guard
Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler (Hurricane Katrina as a persona)