“thin light on water”—Prompts Inspired by Linda Gregg

How is your writing progressing? Are in you in a good flow? Do you write daily or sporadically?

I am still not finishing any drafts, although I am reading more again, which usually restarts my own writing practice. I am trying not to push too hard because the focus on a “finished” piece is counterproductive for me. I remind myself that even when I am not actively writing, I am still working on lines and fragments of poems in my “backbrain.”

What helps me most is finding writers to learn from. “We Manage Most When We Manage Small” is a lovely poem by Linda Gregg, whose ability to match content to form I deeply admire. The brief phrases, the breaking of lines mid-thought and the juxtaposition of images all embody the ephemerality of living.

In contrast to Linda Gregg’s poem, write a poem or story about permanence. Adjust line length, syntax and word choice to fit with this theme.

The second prompt is use the line “Fragile and momentary, we continue” for the starting point of a poem or story. You can then erase the line, still crediting the poet for the ghostline. If you prefer, retain the line, either in italics or within quotation marks, and complete it by adding a word or phrase such as “breaking” or “to transcend.”

For the third prompt, build a poem from brief interactions between people or creatures. Let the images speak for themselves.

The last prompt is to write a poem using the following list of words: “birds,” “hurry,” “reach,” “ignite,” “fragile,” “huddle,” “leans,” “quickening,” “touching” and “air.”

Bonus prompt: write whatever this photograph of ducks and sunlight shining on water inspires. Btw, I took this photo with a filter from the old app PaperCamera.

Good luck writing! Wish me luck too!

“I’ll be watching you” “With a thousand eyes”

Like Philippa, I love Louis Gilmore’s “Improvisation” but do not (or no longer) find it romantic. It feels more like a creepy threat. I like horror-inspired poems though: throw in an octopus, a caterpillar stalker and god-possession, and I am game.

For the first prompt, write your own creepy stalker poem but not to a person; perhaps address it to your favorite candy bar or the car you wish you could afford.

The second prompt is to write the stalker poem or short story from one of the creatures/jealous gods included in the poem.

The third prompt is to write from the perspective of someone fleeing a possessive god. Where can you flee a potentially all-knowing, all-seeing, omnipotent being?

For the fourth prompt, write an essay about a past experience with this destructive kind of infatuation, either an experience of your own or that of a loved one’s and how this experience fits with gender expectations, rape culture and domestic abuse.

The last prompt is to write a poem or story using the following list of words: “watch,” “thousand,” “track,” “feet,” “hold,” “arms,”“love,“ “lives,” “possess” and “three.”

Bonus prompt: write a love poem to this gorgeous caterpillar. Don’t be creepy though. Or “ship” this catepillar with the one I saw in Minnesota:

Good luck writing!

“A flinch of sky”—Prompts Inspired by Emma Bolden

Once again I am sharing a poem by Emma Bolden whose writing leaves me breathless and aching. I hope you like it “Postdiluvian” as much as I do.

For the first prompt, take an origin story or creation myth and make it your own.

For the second, blend two senses as the poet did in the lines “See in the distance the gray sound of a bird / without the gray bird.” If you experience synesthesia, anchor a poem or story with that phenomenon or reflect upon it in an essay.

The third prompt is to use the line “See we had lived so long in gleam” as a ghostline, erasing the line after you’ve drafted the poem or story and crediting the poet.

For the next prompt, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “flinch,” “iridescence,” “electric,’ “beasts,” “glint,” “abandon” “gleam,” “sore,” “wheel” and “world.”

The last prompt is to print out the poem and read it aloud, underlining the words that resonate for you and using those words to build your own poem or story. Btw, “Postdiluvian” was originally published in issue 32 of The Asheville Poetry Review; you can check out the entire issue here: https://ashevillepoetryreview.com/back-issues/issue-32/.

Bonus prompt: write a story or poem in which the water’s reflection breaks into a humming or soft pulling.

Good luck writing!

“Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table”—Prompts Inspired by Langston Hughes

I could not celebrate the 4th of July or the 250th. I am too ashamed of the harm we have done and are doing right now: building concentration camps, enabling genocide, removing aid to sick and starving people across the world and endangering the very land and water and all its inhabitants.

But we can build a better world for everyone and create a country that lives up to its stated ideals. If Langston Hughes who suffered injustices beyond my imagination retained hope in his lifetime, I can too.

For the first prompt, write about your place within America or the world. What future do you want to help create?

For the second, write about this nation’s birth in an essay or poem. What event or period embodies its founding?

The third prompt is to use the line “They’ll see how beautiful I am” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line and credit the poet in an after statement or in your title after drafting your poem or story.

The next is to write a poem or story using the following list of words: “sing,” “brother,” “kitchen,” “well,” “strong,” “tomorrow,” “table,” “beautiful,” “ashamed” and “America.”

Bonus prompt: write about whatever this photo inspires.

Bonus prompt: write about taking the sentient skull of one of the Founders for a drive through modern America and answering his questions about what has happened since his death. What do you demand of him?

Mercy in Its Myriad Forms—Prompts Inspired by J. Sullivan

I am always fascinated by how differently people perceive kindness and how vast the distance is between intent and reaction in social interactions. J. Sullivan’s poem “Mercy” embodies these discrepancies in a clear narrative.

For the first prompt, write about a scene or a past event in which two people commit contrasting acts of mercy or kindness.

For the second, use the line “And I was about to leave you” as a ghostline, erasing the line and crediting the poet after you have drafted the poem.

The third prompt is to write about a time you attempted to save a creature and failed. Did the animal or insect understand you were trying to help? Did it cling to you or attempt to flee?

For the last prompt, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “garden,” “summer,” “praying,” “bright,” “fizzled,” “fingertips,” “save,” “pain,” “softly,” “surprised” and “mercy.”

This photo is of a luna moth I tried to rescue from a river. I am unsure if it had already drowned by the time I saw it floating on the water or if my movements and subsequent splashes are what ultimately killed it. Write whatever this photo or story inspires.

Good luck writing.

The “impulse to inhibit grace”—Prompts Inspired by Megan McDermott

Happy Sunday—or what is left of it. I hope your weekend was good and you are ready for the work week. I am not and should be in bed, but there is poetry to push me onward.

Megan McDermott’s “Not Me” beautifully questions the borders and definitions of identity. I hope you find it as compelling as I did.

For the first prompt, try to delineate the borders of yourself and those around you. How much of your father is smiling behind your mouth; was your sense of humor built upon his and the movies and TV shows you watched together? How much of your mannerisms are copies of your mother’s? How many of your favorite in-jokes with your partner or an ex came from someone they never met, that they assumed were yours and now shared between only the two of you. How much of your writing is a reflection or a rejection of the writers who came before you began making your own poems, stories and worlds?n

The second prompt is to imagine yourself as a stained glass window in a cathedral. Describe the scene depicted, if any. What or who is the light shining through you?

For the third, write a poem, story or essay that attempts to answer one of the three questions McDermott asks in the poem.

The next prompt is to fill in the last word of the line “Maybe every identify needs to stay a” with your own noun instead of the poem’s “paradox” and use it for a ghostline.

The last prompt is to write a poem or story using the following word list: “asserts,” “humility,” “cracks,” “impulse,” “grace,” “needs,” “blinkering,” “bulbs,” “unfastened“ and “hands.”

Bonus prompt: write about the differing sources of light and interplay of colors onto this castle’s shapes and textures as a metaphor for the soul/intellect and the body.

Good luck writing!

Scaffolds, Bridges and Walls, Oh My!—Prompts Inspired by Currents Events, Snark and Seamus Heaney

I will probably be late on posts for this month until I can focus better. I wish I had gotten this one out earlier: I appreciate the snark from the Irish Literary Times.

For the first prompt, write your own response to the removal of Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center. Perhaps throw in some references to the racist boondoggle of Trump’s border wall, his Big Dig bunker ballroom and “Ozymandias.” All the people who have died or will die from funding cuts or in concentration camps and his attempt to erase history and science will remain his true legacy.

The second prompt is to write a poem, story or essay about bridges: building, them, selling them, burning them.

The third prompt is to write about a loving relationship—romantic or platonic—that has deepened with time. (Yes, I am keeping my em dashes. I will not let AI cheaters take anything.)

For the next prompt, use the line “And yet all this comes down when the job’s done” as a ghostline, erasing the line after you’ve finished your draft and crediting the poet in an after statement, in the title or with a footnote.

The last prompt is to write a poem or story using the following list of words: “careful,” “test,” “planks,” “secure,” “ladders,” “solid,” “bridges,” “scaffolds,” “confident” and “wall.”

Bonus prompt: write whatever this photo inspires.

Good luck!

“To live without curiosity”—Prompts Inspired by Matthew Olzmann

I loved this poem when I read it online but had recently used a poem by Matthew Olzmann as inspiration for prompts. The news this month about a tourist throwing a rock at an endangered monk seal though made it feel necessary.

Fuck that guy, I hope he has to pay the full fines of $50,000 and $20,000 for violating the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. An update to the initial story is here: https://apnews.com/article/monk-seal-harassment-endangered-maui-tourist-6c3c3e0d372b26b824582c624352bdfc.

For the first prompt, use the first line, “Tell me what it’s like to live without” as your first line, substituting “curiosity” with your own emotion and developing the poem through a series of phrases. Italicize or place the line in quotation marks and credit the poet in an after statement, footnote, endnote or your title.

The second prompt is to write a list poem of what inspires your own curiosity and awe, or write about a particular phenomenon or event in a poem or essay.

The third prompt is to take one of the poem’s descriptions, “To stand / on the precipice of some wild valley, / the eagles circling, a herd of caribou / booming below” for an opening scene in a story.

For the next prompt, create a poem or story from the following wordlist: “rolling,” “flicker,” “mist,” “precipice,” “circling,” “herd,” “booming,” “primordial,“ “smell” and “knife.”

The last prompt is to write a rant or a curse for the cruelty, pettiness and deliberate ignorance in a poem, essay or story.

Bonus prompt: write about a child’s wonder.

Good luck writing!

“buttons on a shroud”—Prompts Inspired by R. T. Smith

It’s another Sunday in which I am racing to catch up and need another three days. I hope you are making the time to write and edit; I am not but perhaps will in a few weeks (I hope).

If you are on the Bluesky social media platform, I recommend following Simeon Berry for his own poetry and for the poems he shares by other poets. I really enjoy “Mushrooms” by R. T. Smith with its distinctive voice and descriptions. So many wonderful poets to discover!

For the first prompt, write about a regional food and its traditions. Think Midwestern funeral potatoes and hotdishes or Southern grits and collard greens. What foods are not eaten and why?

The second prompt is to write a poem or story using dialogue to contrast the experiences of differing social classes or cultures.

The third prompt is to write a poem, story or essay about cooking for someone, the joy of making someone’s favorite comfort food and seeing their pleasure.

The next prompt is, conversely, to write about refusing a food someone has prepared or offered to prepare, exploring the reason for the refusal and/or the awkwardness of the moment.

The last prompt is to write a poem or story using the following list of words: “chardonnay,” “nocturnal,” “coffins,” “crows,” “velvet,” “thrives,” “body,” “ditches,” “medicine,” “lather” and “shroud.”

Bonus prompt: write about what sprouts from death or whatever this photo of a mushroom inspires.

Good luck writing!

Still Here—Prompts Inspired by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

A bit of a delay starting back to regular posting, but I started a new position. For the next two months I may be a little erratic with the schedule but will try to post once a week.

I don’t always post on Mother’s Day since not everyone has a supportive mom. Today though I can feel how little time I have left with my own after our phone conversation, and this poem reminds me so much of her, how she apologizes for no reason and how hard she is on herself.

I hope you have people in your life who provide you love, encouragement and understanding.

For the first prompt, incorporate a casual conversation within the poem or story. Try to repeat some of the statements for deeper meaning.

The second prompt is to write about a trip with a loved one. Let the focus be on your relationship and interaction rather than the trip itself.

The third prompt is to use line breaks to play with readers’ understanding as the poet does with “I’m happy but Mom / can’t believe that / she forgot to bring the conditioner.” The stanza break increases that shift in meaning.

For the last prompt, write a poem or short story using the following word list from the poem: “apologizes,” “rush,” “late,” “knocks,” “shouts,” “time,” “morning,” “easy,” “leans” and “still.”

Bonus prompt: write a story or poem about you and a loved one having all the time you need together.

Good luck writing!

Celebration!!!

Last prompt of the month is here! Write a poem celebrating making it to the end of the challenge, regardless of how many poems you wrote. Or write about anything you are proud you accomplished. This is your gold-star-on-your-paper moment. Celebrate yourself! Enjoy!

I hope you had fun! Good luck!

Golden—Prompts Inspired by Anila Quayyum Agha

Tonight let’s do something a little different. Rather than posting a poem for inspiration, I would like to share visual art that brought me joy. Years ago, I got to see the art installation “All the Flowers Are for Me” by Anila Quayyum Agha at the Peabody Essex Museum, and I was enthralled.

Here is the link to experience a short video of the installation: https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/anila-quayyum-agha-all-the-flowers-are-for-me. If you would like to read an interview with artist about a previous installation, check out this link: https://www.pem.org/blog/seeing-the-world-in-a-new-light.

For the first prompt, write whatever the photo or video of this installation inspires.

The second prompt is to write a poem about whatever art enlivens you—a painting, photo, song, movie, whatever form.

The third prompt is to read the interview (link posted above) and write an ars poetica poem, a poem about your writing, poetry and its purpose. If you want to learn more about the form and read examples, you can learn more at the website of the Academy of American Poets: https://poets.org/glossary/ars-poetica.

Good luck writing.

“We Turn Together”—Prompts Inspired by Ellen Bass

Here is another beautiful love poem. Ellen Bass is a treasure.

For the first prompt, write a love poem using the imagery of animal mates.

The second prompt is to use the line “we come to this. I bind myself to you,” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after you’ve drafted your poem and credit the poet in an after statement or in your title.

The third prompt is to write about the experience of sleeping with your partner or a former lover, not the sex but sleeping together in the same bed. Horror stories are equally welcome here as love poems.

The last prompt is to write a poem using the following list of words: “floundered,” “separate,” “bind,” “wrapped,” “current,” “steal,” “sleep,” “together,” “rocked,” and “pebbles.”

Bonus prompt: Here is Pebbles sleeping on a lap. Write a poem about cuddling with a pet.

Good luck writing!

“What is Not”—Prompts Inspired by Malia Maxwell

“In the not-not-woods” is a poem that rewards multiple readings. I hope you like it as much as I did. If you want to listen to the poet read it aloud, click on this link: https://poets.org/poem/not-not-woods.

For the first prompt, write about moving to a new place and missing the landscape you left, what plants or terrain would you look for and not find. I found the flat, cloudless skies in Texas hard to enjoy at first, although I fell in love with the wildlife and rugged landscape. I still miss its spring bluebonnets and the rocky ledges.

The second prompt is to describe the areas lacking public access. I was surprised by how much of the coast is closed off in areas.

The third prompt is to embed the memories of a loved one within descriptions of the land. What lessons can you remember; can you still hear their voice?

For the next prompt, write a poem using the following list of words from the poem: “gnaws,” “deflated,” “scab,” “fault,” “frothy,” “poison,” ”plumes,” “apologies,” “hemlocks,” “cedars,” “shake” and “wailing.”

The last prompt is to predict what your home will look like in a hundred years. Who and what will remain?

Bonus prompt: write whatever comes to mind with this autumn sunset.

Good luck!

A Missed Launch—Prompts Inspired by Tracey Knapp

I appreciate the bleak humor of this poem. The “launch it like a football” made me laugh. I have a feeling the upcoming funerals and my own will also involve farce. The number of car fires, unintended crimes, unexpected consequences of hubris and sheer bad luck of my family would make a failed sitcom for its improbability.

To read about what inspired this poem and hear the poet read “To the Sea” aloud, click on the link: https://poets.org/poem/sea-3.

For the first prompt, write of a funeral or wake or your first brush with death after the initial shock and grief has subsided. Most of the funerals for my elderly family members have included laughter and storytelling, an appreciation of their long life and influence. This celebration of course is impossible for younger loved ones lost unexpectedly.

The second prompt is to write a narrative poem about a wedding or planned event that went all wrong (like my first wedding).

The third is to write a poem for all the tasks you aren’t (or weren’t) dressed for.

For the last prompt, write a poem using the following wordlist: “heft,” “wheel,” “launch,” “tide,” “kneeling,” “chest,” “docks,” “descend,” “bubbles” and “emerging.”

Bonus prompt: write about the endless crashing of waves, enduring and coming home.

Good luck!

Multiplying Gravities—Prompts Inspired by Maya C. Popa

Five more days to go! I hope you are keeping up (better than I am)!

I thoroughly enjoy the imagery and craft here. If you like the poem too, check out Maya C. Popa’s books and classes: https://www.mayacpopa.com. So many books to add to the towering stacks.

For the first prompt, define what a love poem is within your poem, relying on metaphor (or multiple) to explain.

For the second, build the poem around the extended metaphor of the poem as a room, inviting the reader in.

The third is to use the line “Look how we’ve made” a ghostline, erasing the line after you’ve drafted the poem and crediting the poet.

The last is to write a poem using the following list of words: “window,” “remainder,” “whale,” “affection,” “patient,” “dissolving,” “convention,” “gravities,” “blink,” “gallery “and “likeness.”

Bonus prompt: write a poem about entering this reflected world.

Good luck!

“Even when it breaks”—Prompts Inspired by Kelly Grace Thomas

If you ever have a chance to join a workshop led by Kelly Grace Thomas or hear her read, I recommend you do. She is inspiring and encouraging. I love the simplicity and poignancy of her “Soft Discipline.”

For the first prompt, make a list of achievements and kindnesses and a second one of horrors and tragedies. Look at the two lists for resonance between items and build a poem from those.

The second prompt is to the last line, “Even when it breaks” as a ghostline, remembering to erase the line after drafting the poem and crediting the poet.

The third prompt is to write a poem using the following wordlist: “days,” “miracle,” “bullet,” “salted,” “born,” discipline,” “even,” “breaks” and “heart.”

For the last, write a response to this poem, addressing the poet in the title.

Bonus prompt: write about a redwood forest or whatever this photo inspires.

Good luck!

World Book Day—Prompts Inspired by Patricia Hooper

So today is another holiday, World Book Day, celebrating books and reading. I think Patricia Hooper’s poem “The World Book” is perfect for it. I love how the poem references volume “S” of the encyclopedia set (yes, the pun was intentional), expanding from the subjects inside its pages to the narrator noticing the objects around her. For me, reading opened doorways into new worlds, ones far from my small town, but also led me back to better understand that place and people.

If you want to hear Patricia Hooper read “The World Book” aloud, click on the link: https://poets.org/poem/world-book.

For the first prompt, choose a letter and build a poem around words beginning with that letter. For a really difficult challenge, write a poem about losing a letter and gradually omit the letter and additional ones.

The second prompt is to take a volume from the encyclopedia and flip to a random page. The first word you notice will be your subject. See what happens.

For the third prompt, use the lines “the woman get owned them skipped / to the solar system and said” as your first lines. You can choose to erase them after finishing your poem or keep them in, italicized or within quotation marks. Either way, remember to credit the poet for your inspiration.

The last prompt is to build a poem using the following wordlist: “volume,” “leafing,” “ships,” “skipped,” “saucers,” “diagram,” “miles,” “leave,” “swirling,” “world” and “secrets.”

Bonus prompt: what question does the bookstore’s feline guardian ask and what answer do you give to gain admittance?

Good luck writing!

Delayed Earth Day Prompts

Sorry for the delay. I wasn’t feeling well last night.

I chose this poem not just for Earth Day but also for its collaboration. I love the connections and responses of each piece. I would like to join on more projects with other writers and artists. If you would like to hear the poets read their pieces, click on the link: https://poets.org/poem/earth-day-collaborative-poem.

The first prompt is to write your own response, perhaps repeating one of the lines from the individual sections as entry point.

For the second prompt, use the line “until we learn to doubt its existence” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after drafting your poem and give credit to the poet.

The third prompt is to write about the changes you’ve noticed. Perhaps you no longer see fireflies as you once did or you notice summer comes sooner and lasts longer, that droughts are more common or storms are stronger and more frequent.

The next prompt is to write a poem using the following list of words: “frenzied,” “congregation,” “confetti,” “entwined,” “tipping,” “severed,” “drifting,” “tempered,” “excess,” “spiral,” “monstrous,” “husk” and “rising.”

The last prompt is to collaborate with another poet this month.

Bonus prompt: write a poem to (or from) this dolphin.

Good luck writing!

Ekphrasis—Prompts Inspired by Desiree Rodriguez

Today’s prompts will all be ekphrastic prompts. A few weeks ago I went to an art festival and came across the painting. I loved it immediately. If you would like to see more paintings by the artist, check out her Instagram account: paintings_by_desi.

For the first prompt, write a poem inspired by this painting.

The artist told me this painting was inspired by Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing. Your second prompt is to choose a scene from a favorite book and describe it as if it were a painting.

The third prompt is similar to the previous: write a poem, describing a scene in a favorite movie.

For the last prompt, listen to a song you like. As it plays, write down the words that catch your attention. Build a poem from the wordlist you’ve made.

Good luck writing!