The Secret to Compiling a Cohesive Poetry Collection Lies in These Two Concepts

When considering how to make a poetry collection, there are generally a few approaches a poet can take. They can start with a selection of previously published poems or already written poems and work backward, compiling them into a book.

Or the poet can write new poems with the goal of creating a cohesive collection.

Either way, the two most important concepts to understand during the process are theme and structure. Theme refers to the content of the poems: What are the poems about?

Structure refers to the form of the poems: What do they look like on the page? Are they free verse or a specific form?

This and other considerations for making a poetry book are the topic of my upcoming workshop in October:

Writing the Book-Length Poetry Collection
DATES: Four Weeks Starting October 5th, 2026
TIME: Asynchronous via Writing Workshops

This online poetry workshop is built for new and emerging poets ready to gather their work into a cohesive manuscript. Open to all levels and all genres of poetry, it's ideal for writers who have poems on the page but feel overwhelmed by the task of shaping them into a chapbook or full-length book. By the end of this online writing class, you'll have the skills to move from a folder of individual poems toward a publishable manuscript — and a clear understanding of how to submit and market your book of poetry.