Where do you write your poems? What devices do you use? (Eg pen & paper, computer?) Do devices make a difference to you re poetic inspiration?

What do you do if you suddenly get a poetic inspiration? (Eg grab any writing implement at hand to capture it? Or wait & trust that the inspiration will return when you are seated w/ pen/computer in hand?)

For me, I usually write my poems while seated in my easy chair in the family/living room. I write any time of day or eve, when I am taking a break from my domestic chores. I like using a pen & my journal, & then I type the poem in my email on my cell phone (I have a few family/friends who like to receive my poems by email).

If inspiration strikes in the middle of the night & I can't fall back asleep because the poem is turning in my head, I'll write on my cell phone which is handy by the bed (& won't disturb sleeping husband). Most of the time, I trust the inspiration will return, & I tell myself if it doesn't, it probably wasn't that inspiring anyways.

One day, perhaps I will have a lovely writing desk adorned with fresh flowers in a vase, like I imagine writers of times past. But right now, I live with quite a number of extended family in a small, cluttered house, so....isn't clutter fun?

What a great question, Hélène. :) I'm fascinated by this too (read my profile for more). Historically, I used to write with a fountain pen and notebook and I'd write wherever I could. For a long time that meant writing in bed, at a desk or on the train were my favourite places. Over the last ten years I've mostly written on a laptop and occasionally by pen.

I can't write in the mornings, my brain just won't do creativity until about 2pm. I find mid-afternoon and late at night the most inspired times. During Covid lockdown I discovered the magic of long walks and hikes and I was surprised to discover that inspiration would strike very regularly, usually after about 40 minutes of walking. Right when the endorphins kick in. At first I'd take a notepad and pen with me to capture the poems but now I dictate them into my iPhone which does a pretty good job of working out what I'm saying.

I did experiment with improvising some poems as voice notes while walking last year ('Morning People' was written that way as well as a few others).

I am quite sure the technology used to write does effect the writing itself. That said, no amount of money spent on equipment will make a bad writer better. Sitting down with a pen and paper is much more likely to get me inspired than sitting at a blank laptop screen.

I love the app 'IA Writer' for laptop and phone as it's very uncluttered and lets me get my ideas down in a very clear way and lets me add lines here and there throughout the day/week as I'm working on something.

I always carry a notebook and/or have one by the bedside. Words can come at any time of the day or night, least times when I am trying to conjure them up, mostly when lying in bed trying to get to sleep.

I do have dedicated poetry moleskine notebook and scribble in it daily. Ideas! cool expressions I hear, conundrums, etc

Get them down in any way, shape or form you can, then shape them up at leisure and then edit edit edit!

I write with pen and paper. It just feels better than a keyboard and monitor.

I can't conjure up a poem - it has to come to me - usually via some sort of emotion. The emotion may not become the subject of the poem but it will kick start the direction and from there the poem will take off on its own. Some wrap themselves around a phrase or a line in a song or the news.
I have to tap my poems out on a laptop, so I rely heavily on Grammarly's spell and punctuation checker.
Being dyslexic I never wrote anything longer than a shopping list but having been given a 'made up' computer years ago I found a whole new world opening up for me. I now have a lap top and I am blissfully happy.