Follow John McCullough for the great insights and poems he shares. So, yes, the line breaks in Caroline Bird’s “Mid-air.” So much yes.

For the prompt, use the first line “There is a corner of the city where the air is” as a ghostline and describe your city. Make it a love letter to your hometown or the city you still daydream of when the days are a slog and the nights the ceiling stares back at you in bed.

For the next prompt, write a poem in which your line breaks recreate the moment a trapeze artist let’s go of the bar. Break them in the middle of the sentences, even in the middle of exclamations, and pair the breaks with music or movies—think of the note held as a victim looks back at the killer during a chase scene.

For a third prompt, write a poem describing a kiss as “If composers kisses were scored by composers.” Make it a full orchestra or perhaps a jazz duet of saxophone and trumpet, or a trill of flute and clarinet. Make each breath count.

And the final prompt, create a poem from the following word list: “corner,” “hardens,” “suspended” “scored,” “breath,” “tightens,” “tongue,” “locked,” “ caught,” and “landed.”