Short Poems to the Rescue—Prompts

So we’re deep into 30/30, and we’ve been writing diligently and the words are scattering like ants in a mowed over mound, or you are so behind that you need to add another civilization’s calendar to catch up. Either way, short poems can save the hour, the month, or the decade…

For this prompt, think about what you have recently learned from isolation, the pandemic, parenting, capitalization. What has surprised you, disappointed, or inspired you?

Write a haiku or tanka (traditional or modified) using the following as the first line (or altered for syllable count if you wish to follow the 5-7-5 or 5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure):

________ taught me

Go from there.

For the second prompt, write a poem about a short poetic form’s structure using that form. Perhaps the best sample poem ever written was by this 5th grader:

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You (we) can do this! Pebbles believes in us.

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Good luck! Head scratches for all!