“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!

Whorl—Prompts Inspired by Rosalie Moffett

So much movement in Rosalie Moffett’s “Happy.” I need to read more of her writing. Today was a day in which I did not write; my head was stagnated, so I appreciate this poem’s motion even more.

For the first prompt, write a poem in which movement is predominant.

For the second, write about an interaction between two species even if one is unaware of the other, such as a cat watching birds outside the window.

The third prompt is write about technology and the natural world. How does one try to control or manage the other?

For the last, write a poem using the following list of words from the poem: “stops,” “fence,” “switch,” “crawl,” “barrier,” “foreseen,” “relief,” “whorl,” “disappear,” “prayer” and “scatters.”

Bonus prompt: write about what is happening here or whatever this photo inspires.

Good luck writing!

Abecedarian of Joys—Prompts Inspired by Arielle Hebert

I hope your Sunday is a good one. Perhaps you are trying to catch up on poems as I am. May this poem, its lovely catalog of joys, its generous spirit and its use of the abecedarian form all inspire you to cherish the day.

If you would like to hear the poet read Our Book of Delights aloud, click this link: https://poets.org/poem/our-book-delights.

For the first prompt, write an abecedarian of your own, a form in which the first letter of each line is in alphabetical order. If you would like the form’s history and more examples from the Academy of American Poets, here is the link: https://poets.org/glossary/abecedarian.

The second prompt is to write a poem starting with the line “Open the door. No one can” and completing the statement with your own verb. Remember to italicize the line or place it within quotation marks, crediting the poet in an after statement or in your title.

The third prompt is to describe spring in your area—the weather, wildlife and vegetation—as lushly as you can. Overindulge yourself; be lavish in your praise and excessive in your delight.

The fourth is to begin a poem or stanza with a barefoot child, that memory or image, and see where it takes you.

The next is of course the inevitable wordlist: “drizzle,” “tropical,” “palms,” “sugar,” “hand-picked,” “braiding,” “wine,” “surprise,” “match,” “bread,” “enough,” “door,” “zigzagging” and “coming.”

For the last prompt, read the poem aloud (or listen to the poet reading her poem) and write down the words that most resonate for you. That list will be your own from which to build a poem.

Bonus prompt: write about running water, moss and ferns or whatever comes to mind from this photo.

Birdsong—Prompts Inspired by Gary Young

The cats and I are enjoying all the birds visiting to eat our birdseed: cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, red-winged blackbirds, sparrows and sometimes even an Eastern bluebird.

For the first prompt, describe the animal sounds outside your home. What birds wake you up? Do you hear cicadas or tree frogs? The screeching of neighborhood cats or dogs howling at a train? If you want, add traffic noise and sirens? Divide the day and night by these sounds, ending with an image/simile of the animal.

The second prompt is a writing exercise: rewrite the poem changing only the nouns, replacing the birds with the sounds of city life. See what happens. If you like a particular line, make that a ghostline and go from there.

The third prompt is to use the last line, “played on a flute carved from bone,” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after you finish drafting a poem and credit the poet.

The last prompt is (of course) write a poem from the following wordlist: “dawn,” “scold,” “feeder,” “screeching,” “course,” “canyon,” “break,” “mourning,” “breathy,” “echoes,” and “bone.”

Bonus prompt: write from the perspective of this cardinal, who is waiting for more birdseed.

Good luck writing.

Absence—Prompts Inspired by Richard Siken

Today I got to hear great poems and discussions about archival processes and hybrid collaborations. My head is too full to untangle, so I apologize if this post is even more disorganized than usual.

Richard Siken’s poem embodies the feeling I had as the tagalong little cousin, the youngest, at reunions, all the others so much older and bigger and more important. I often played by myself somewhere out of the way, lost in my head, in the clouds, invisible.

For the first prompt, choose a line from a move and let it become a powerful metaphor as the poet did with the quote from The Matrix. I like that the narrator says his stepbrothers wouldn’t take him to the movies but later quotes a movie he’d seen to describe himself.

For the second prompt, juxtapose a series of opposites as the poem does, “hypotheticals” and “real,” “capacity” and “nothing” and “full” and “empty.

The third prompt is to use the poem’s question “What did I know that no one else knew?” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after drafting your poem and credit the poet with an after statement or in the title.

The last prompt is to build a poem using the following list of words: “blades,” “pressing,” “tools,” “solid,” “bounce,” ”absence,” “hands,” “shapes,” “blurry,” “capacity” and “invisible.”

Bonus prompt: write whatever this photo of the sky inspires.

Good luck!

Greening—Prompts Inspired by Ada Limón

There was good news in the world today, but it has been a hectic week, and I needed this poem. I hope reading it helps you too. If you want to listen to the poet read it aloud, click on the link: https://poets.org/poem/instructions-not-giving.

For the first prompt, write what spring (and hope) means to you.

The second prompt is to write about what you see outside your window or on your way to work: what ordinary thing—the neighbor’s tree, perhaps the trilling bird calls, or the purple house you pass by—brightens your morning or welcomes on your way home.

I love the descriptions: “cotton candy-colored,” “taffy” and “confetti.” While I enjoy the narrator’s admiration for the steady green leaves, let’s celebrate the gaudy. Describe a world of sweets and carnivals.

The next is to write a poem using the following list of words: “funnels,” “limbs,” “slate,” “taffy,” “trinkets,” “confetti,” “plodding,” “skin,” “slick” and “palm.”

For the last prompt, use the partial line “When all the shock of white” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after you’ve drafted the poem and credit the poet in your title or in an after statement.

Yes, I know I should post a photo of a tree in all its green glory, but this bottlebrush is the one I see outside kitchen window. This is the tree that welcomed us into this home and entertains us and the cats with the birds it provides a landing, the same tree we thought lost to the harsh winter and had to cut down to almost the ground. It is back and beautiful. The shadow is mine, as I admire its healthy blooms.

So for the bonus prompt, write about coming back from the cold in glorious fashion.

Good luck!

Revived—Prompts Inspired by Jesse Arlen

I am fascinated by multilingual poets, their ability to create layered meaning in multiple languages, how one language can set the frame for another and all the choices required in translating from one language to another. My friends who write bilingual poems convey meaning and emotion even if readers do not speak both languages.

If you wish to learn more about the poem’s languages, including the Egyptian hieroglyph, and hear Jesse Arlen read it aloud, you can click on this link: https://poets.org/poem/tree-1.

For the first prompt, write a poem in your first language and provide an English translation or vice versa.

The second prompt is to write how you would discover or recreate your history, that of your people, your family or your individual self. Where would you search, what items you use and whose testimonies would you gather? 

The third prompt is to write a poem using the following list of words: "bearer," "extinct," "parchment," "secret," "potion," "herbs," "elixir," "barren" and "revived."

The last prompt is to write a one-sentence poem, broken up into stanzas, that represents an essential goal of your life. 

As always, these prompts can be used for short stories and essays. 

Bonus, prompt, write about these mushrooms that appeared the next day after a rain. One seems to be wearing another mushroom as a hat.

Good luck writing.

“A Break from Dread”—Prompts Inspired by Suzanne Cleary

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed receiving a great poem emailed to me through poem-a-day and discovering new poets to enjoy. Today, as the poem's narrator states, I do "need a break from dread."  I admire how even though the poem begins by telling us no one was hurt, I still didn't expect the precise details or the clear visualization of the dog at the poem's ending.

Click on the link to hear the poet read “Mercury”: https://poets.org/poem/mercury.

For the first prompt, write a narrative poem that begins by telling the story's end (that no one was hurt or that someone was or that someone died). Focus on the building of details to bring about a satisfactory conclusion. 

The second prompt is to use the line “no one seems to be at the wheel” for a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after drafting the poem and credit the poet perhaps in an after statement or the title.

A third prompt is to write a poem entitled “Mercury” that incorporates the car model, the metal and the planet. Bonus points if you include the fact that mercury, the only metal liquid at room temperature, tarnishes in humidity.

For the last, write a poem using the following list of words: “buttons,” “brake,” “mercury,” “speed,” “leveled,” “break,” “wheel,” “circles,” “circuitry” and “living.”

Bonus prompt: write whatever this photo inspires.

Good luck writing.

The Future Beyond Imagining—Prompts Inspired by Jane Hirshfield

As you may know, I am a huge fan of Jane Hirshfield. I admire how in her “I speak with the future” she can include eons and the present day all the while looking at a future far beyond our understanding.

If you would like to hear her read “I speak with the future, click on the link: https://poets.org/poem/i-speak-future.

It may be helpful to know Merriam-Webster's definition of “kalpa” is "a duration of time in Hinduism covering a complete cosmic cycle from the origination to the destruction of a world system."

For the first prompt, use the line "We speak of beauty by moving our jaws and teeth" as a ghostline, erasing the line after writing the poem and crediting the poet in an after statement or in your title. 

The second prompt is to create two places within your poem: a safe inner place and an outer one full of the world's tragedies and harms. 

The third is to write a poem, imagining the world reborn after ours is destroyed. 

For the next, look at Piranesi's “The Staircase with Trophies,” from his series Le Carceri d’Invenzione (The Imaginary Prisons) for inspiration: https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/visual-world/item/5541

For the final prompt, create a poem from the following list of words: "bones," "teeth," "walled," "staircase," "hummingbird," "world," "nectar," "uneclipsed," "passing," "portions" and "imagine."

Bonus prompt: what made the birds rise and describe their movements and sound.

Good luck writing!

Wolves—Prompts Inspired by Marissa Lingen

Uncanny Magazine is a great publication. Marissa Lingen’s “The Truth About Wolves” is a wonderful example of what they publish. Here is the link to her poem: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-truth-about-wolves/

I love the idea behind “The Truth About Wolves” and its implementation—how the poem moves from two wolves to a pack to forest and stream to the very moon. Again, I appreciate a poem that breaks the taboo of writing about the moon (or the prohibition once said by one person that seems to get passed around to all writers), and this poem does so decisively. Personally, I need a whole pack and likely the moon to keep me going this week.

For the first prompt, take a familiar allegory or parable and adapt it. Perhaps the fox who couldn’t reach the grapes, calling them sour, does reach them and discovers them to be fermented. Perhaps your scorpion chooses not to sting the frog; it can change.

The second prompt is to use the first line, “They will tell you lies about wolves,” to create a list poem of lies and fables about the animals and their behavior. You can include the now-debunked theory of an alpha wolf.

The third prompt is to address loved one(s) and create a mythology of them for them.

For the last, create a poem—not about wolves—from the following word list: “contain,” “feed,” “full,” “whole,” “tumbling,” “nurturing,” “entrails,” “blood,” “forest” and “stream.”

Again these prompts are focused on poetry but can be used for stories or essays.

Bonus prompt: write about what famous—cartoon or otherwise—wolves are inside you.

Bonus bonus prompt: write whatever this woodcut inspires.

Good luck writing.

Holding—Prompts Inspired by beyza ozer

Today was a terrible day to read the news. Every American should feel horror and shame for the harm our nation is inflicting upon the world and sorrow for what we are doing to ourselves. I don’t know how to stop this, only try to reach for the good and appreciate the beautiful while I can.

Here is a beautiful poem by beyza ozer, https://poets.org/poem/holding-rose-water.

For the first prompt, write about what is left unsaid in families, interspersed with familial rituals, comfort foods and specific memories of lost loved ones and/or homes. 

For the second prompt, mix your own family's migration with those of migratory birds and other species. Do you ever return home?  Can you? Where is your home now? Is it a place or a time or both?  

For the third, use the lines "There is never / a good time" as your title or as a refrain. Indicate that these are quoted through italics and attribution. 

The next prompt is to write a poem from this word list: "holding," "fight," "stopped," "now," "forever," "time,"  "instant," "wraps" "unreachable," "grief" and "talk."

For the last prompt, use the line "We fight so hard. We open the tops of" as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after you've finished drafting the poem and credit the poet for the inspiration. 

Bonus prompt: write what a heart-shaped coffee ground means to you.

Good luck writing. May tomorrow be a more peaceful day for everyone.

Love Your Work—Prompts Inspired by the NE Ohio Regional Sewer District social media account

UPDATE: I thought this posted last night. I don’t know what happened.

It’s Monday, and you spend more waking hours at work than you do home, so let’s try to love our jobs as much as the NE Ohio Regional Sewer District social media account worker seems to.

For the first prompt, take lines from a famous poem book (Goodnight Moon here) and adapt it to your own job.

The second prompt is to write your appreciation for indoor plumbing, sanitation services or any other convenience that is so easy to take for granted until you go tent camping or lose electricity for more than a day.

The third prompt is to write a nature poem using the following list of words: “night,” “streams,” “settling,” “banks,” “scientists,” “crews,” “serving” and “care.” Substitute any of the other professionals for scientists, or add them all in here. Beavers are great engineers.

The next prompt is to write whatever this photo inspires.

Additional prompts inspired by the NE Ohio Regional Sewer District account: write a poem about love, envy and settling.

Bonus prompt: write about this kitty discovering a sink.

Good luck writing this week. Have fun at work!

“Easter in full drag”—Prompts Inspired by Charles Wright

Charles Wright has such beautiful descriptions of nature and a depth, again that layering I so admire. Here is a lovely poem I hope you will like too.

For the first prompt, write about seasonal transitions from winter to spring, the occasional back step and false spring, or from spring to fall. Let the description convey the mood and deeper rumination.

The second prompt is to write a poem that moves from long descriptions of nature or the surroundings to personification of nature or humanity, using short, cutting phrases for impact.

The third prompt is to use the line “There is no end to the other world“ as your title or as your first line, remembering to attribute Wright for the line, and describe this other world.

The next prompt is to use “As our fathers were bold to tell us,” as a ghostline, remembering to erase the line after the poem is written and to credit Wright for the inspiration.

The last prompt is to write a poem using the following list of words: “blood,” “redbud,” “crosses,” “bowing,” “fey,” “bones,”“rosettes,” “bib,” “cutlery” and “slice.”

As always, you can use these prompts for essays or fiction; I am simply focusing on poetry for this month.

Bonus prompt: write about how beautiful lilies are and how pure and pristine their symbolism in contrast to their toxicity. Or write whatever this photo inspires.

Happy Easter if you celebrate the holiday. Good luck writing!

So we have “something to push against”—Prompts Inspired by Jamaal May

I have loved Jamaal May’s writing ever since Hum came out, and “I Have this Way of Being” is another beautiful poem. I find how it builds power through its initial—and deliberate—generality particularly interesting. I enjoy poems that have something to say, a deeper layer that rewards digging (yes, pun intended here). If you want to hear him read his poem, click on the link: https://poets.org/lesson-plan/teach-poem-i-have-way-being-jamaal-may.

For the first prompt, write about a task (perhaps the task of writing or of learning a skill) and the underlying reason you do it even if you have to struggle for the words. 

The second prompt is to describe something without knowing the exact terms as the poet did with the names of the flower: you could describe trying to fix a leaky faucet or assemble a cabinet without knowing the names for the various parts and fasteners.

The third prompt is to write a poem using the following list of words: "mouth," "odd," "pastel," "lung," "fist," "weeds," "windswept," "kneel,"  "push"  and "petal."

For the last prompt, build to a penultimate line of "will have something to push against," indicating through italics and within the title (or statement below it) the quoted text and source. 

Bonus prompt: write a poem about growing and reaching toward light or whatever this photo inspires.

Good luck writing!

“Assiduous”—Prompts Inspired by Rae Armantrout

I do admire poets who can say so much in a few lines. Rae Armantrout has great short poems, and poet Tom Snarsky is a wonderful poet to follow: for his poems and for his #smallpoemsunday feed. Tonight I tried to be less wordy than usual in appreciation but failed.

For the first prompt, describe a pet’s behavior and connect it to a human trait in a poem, essay or story.

I particularly enjoy the surprise created by the break between the poem’s second and third lines. The second prompt is to take an old poem that feels unfinished and play with its line breaks, trying to create unexpected turns.

I find the poem’s snarky tone delicious. For the next prompt, write a poem or story narrated with a similarly sarcastic voice. Let your target be a politician, media personalty, even a family member or coworker—anyone is fair game as long as you don’t share it with them or people they know. A snide poem may even prevent an unfortunate outburst.

Notice how the level of detail changes among the stanzas: the first introducing the cat and offering a twist, the middle providing a clear description and the last two making the intended connection with rather abstract language. For me, the language and word choice works. I love how “assiduous” suggests both diligence and fawning especially in combination with “self regard.” For the last prompt, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “self,” “assiduous,” “bland,” “patch,” “claws,” “angles,” “superior,” “balanced” and “same.”

Bonus prompt: write whatever this photo of the younger cat annoying the older one inspires. Or use it as a metaphor for sibling rivalry, dating, office politics or other pesky human interaction.

Good luck!

Dillydallying in Yellow—Prompts Inspired by Charles Simic

As you may have noticed, I’ve switched to posting on Monday rather than Sunday nights. I hope this change improves my consistency since Sundays are less predictable.

I don’t believe I have posted a poem by Charles Simic, a poet I need to read more of. I hope you like this one as much as I did. I also need to post poetry by Phillip Crymble soon, whose work and social media posts I enjoy.

I enjoy how the poem lazes throughout—its sleepy repetition of “l’s,” “s’s” and “z’s”—until the end with its abrupt “click” sound for turning on the lamp. For the first prompt, use the last line, “To click on the yellow table lamp,” as a ghostline. After using it as the starting point for a poem or story, erase the line and credit the poet in your title or with an “after” statement.

For the second prompt, begin by naming one of the seven deadly sins (or other vice) and then provide a setting for it in a poem or story or a description from a remembered place and time for an essay.

The third prompt is to borrow the title, “The Secret of the Yellow Room,” and mash the use of personification with tropes of the YA mystery genre (Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys or more modern detectives). Be sure to credit the poet for the title.

The next is to write a poem or story using the following list of words from the poem: “lolling,” “dressing,” “breeze,” “dozing,” “silky,” “lilies,” “nuzzle,” “dillydallying,” “stupor” and “lamp.” I love the word “dillydallying”—its sound matching its meaning. The whole poem is a treat to read aloud.

Bonus prompt: Write whatever this photo of a bathroom with cat walkways and stairs inspires you to write. I have no idea where my daughter found these photos.

Additional bonus prompt: write a lullaby for this bee.

Good luck writing. Have fun.

Daily—Prompts Inspired by Larry Levis

Larry Levis is a great poet. His poem from 1972 is powerful, the language gutting and—unfortunately—apt today.

The first prompt is to choose a headline from the last few days and use that as your title or first line.

For the second prompt, use the first line of the poem, “He thought he could ignore the war,” as a ghostline, erasing the line after you’ve finished writing a poem or story and remembering to credit the poet.

For the third, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “paid,” “silence, “sales,” “photographs,” “flames,” “cold,” “number,” “cowed,” “nightsticks” and “alone.”

The next prompt is to juxtapose daily life, driving past schools and hospitals, and the bombings of those same places by our government.

The last prompt is to create a persona poem of War as an unavoidable internet troll or as an abusive stalker.

Bonus prompt: write how future archaeologists will decipher these carvings. How do they describe our civilization?

Good luck.

Seeing and Naming—Prompts Inspired by Fanny Howe

I hope you all are doing well—or as well as possible—in these times. Sometimes we need to step away from the turmoil and suffering if we can. I like to think that in this poem, the narrator walks into the forest to get away from other people, from herself even, but everywhere there are people and her own awareness.

For the first prompt, name the names in this forest’s trees, whose faces and hands do you see and how did they come there?

I am prone to pareidolia—seeing faces and shapes in trees, shadows on the ground, clouds, even houses and kitchen sinks—which is perhaps why I am particularly skeptical of AI hype. Humans are as quick to attribute human characteristics or sentience to objects as they are to deny them of other groups of humans. For the next prompt, write about your own experience with this phenomenon or explore it through a fictional account.

The third prompt is to imagine a world without human faces and voices and what will fill that absence and perform the naming?

For the next, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “lost,” “knots,” “hands,” “elms,” “shivered,” “wind,” “ease” and “name.”

The last prompt is to use the the line “I wanted to be air, or wind—to be at ease” for a ghostline, remembering to erase the line after finishing the poem or story and crediting the poet.

While at the Buffalo River, I saw a skeletal woman in the shape of this moss-covered rock, but my photo didn’t capture the illusion. Write whatever this photo inspires for bonus prompt.

To end on a more cheerful prompt, write from this surprised sink’s perspective. What just happened?

Good luck writing. Have fun.