The Terror in Beauty—Prompts Inspired by Rilke

Along with the biblically accurate angels with a thousand eyes, angels have terrified me, as does perfection and all true beauty. What else splinters the lungs like those transcendent moments of sky and land mirrored in a lake with shifting hues my human eye cannot accurately define? So I am grateful to Rilke and to David Rubin for sharing this poem.

For the first prompt, name the angel who would hear your cry and write a poem or story about what happens next.

The second prompt is to use “For beauty is but the beginning of terror” as a ghostline, remembering to erase the line after you finish the poem and crediting the poet for your inspiration.

The third prompt is to write a list poem of what has declined to destroy you. Or if you prefer, write an essay on surviving beauty.

For the next prompt, write a poem or story using the following word list: “cried,” “hierarchies,” “hear,” “perish,” “power,” “beginning,” “endure,” “awed” and “destroy.”

For an additional prompt, write about a being through whom light shines. What would you give for that light to illuminate your face or hands? What would you sacrifice to make the light pass over you, leaving you in the safe harbor of concealment? What prayers would you make for either outcome?

Bonus ekphrastic prompt: describe this image in a poem or story.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Lazarus Rising onto the Web—Prompts Inspired by Kelli Russell Agodon

I spent a week in Minnesota, weeding and painting after attending a lovely wedding. It was great spending time with family, and I needed to feel the sun and cool breezes rather than sitting in waiting rooms and hospitals, worrying. So while I am still behind on reading and writing, I have better grounding. This gorgeous poem by Kelli Russell Agodon embodies my sense that I may bounce back from the last few weeks. It does seem appropriate that my screenshot is all cockeyed though.

For the first prompt, write a “ransom letter to an old self” in whatever form that takes.

The second prompt is to write in a poem or essay about a moment you interacted with a small creature—bird or insect, spider or lizard or frog—and how that interaction mimics some aspect of your life. Or make up a story about meeting or affecting a fictional creature.

The third prompt is to write a poem or story using the following word list: “leaves,” “squeezed,” “hourglass,” “slip,” “pain,” “knot,” suncatcher,” “web,” “rising,” “numb,” and “center.”

For the fourth, describe “normal” as something other than a box, or write a list poem of what “normal” feels like to you or how it has been dictated.

The last prompt is to write a poem for story from the spider’s perspective.

For a bonus prompt, write about the spider in this photo.

For an additional prompt, write as if climbing this monument were to return to your center.

(For more context if you want it, the previous photo is from staircase of the monument and statue of “Hermann the German” from Hermann Heights Park in New Ulm, MN.)

Have fun writing! Good luck!

Open Fields—Prompts Inspired by Ross Gay

Yes, I am late again with the blog. My head was too full of the beep of machines, the scuff of shoes on linoleum as nurses come in to draw blood again. Even when I leave the hospital, I know I will eventually have to return and next time we may not get her there in time. I want to leave those hallways behind to run in fields of clover and vetch, the sky an endless plain above.

Perhaps for these reasons (and its beauty) I turned to this wonderful poem by the Ross Gay for that escape and the imagery it gave me.

For the first prompt, write a poem or story about transforming into another creature. What would you give up; by what process or sense would you choose to embody this other life form?

The second prompt—similar to the first—is to write about knowing the experiences of another. What would you learn from seeing from behind another’s eyes? What would the world look like below as you drifted along thermals or above you from the depths of the dark seas? Most of all, how would you gave this knowledge? What is the entry into the other’s world?

The third prompt is to use the line “from its mouth made me” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after you’ve written the poem and credit the poet in an after statement or in the title.

The last is to write a story or poem using the following word list: “belly,” “bit,” “maw,” “bloom,” “brook,” “sheen,” “torches,“ “knives,” “glisten,” and “cast.”

This poem is from his third collection catalog of unabashed gratitude.

For a writing exercise, describe the color and texture of gratitude, its density and half-life.

For a bonus prompt, write an essay, poem or story inspired by the carving and/or the text (photo taken in a Portland train station). Or write about the photo below (taken in Borrego Springs). What would the world feel to a horse of metal hooves and wire mane? Would the rare drops of rain be cooling relief or an unwelcome thick corrosion of the coat?

Have fun reading! I hope you have done better on the Sealey Challenge than I have this year.

Good luck with your writing!

Living Punk—Prompts Inspired by Jessica Walsh

I love this poem by Jessica Walsh. It feels like an anthem, a beckoning to let my feet thud on the floor and stomp into a new day.

I have never been punk, never pretended or believed myself “cool” or “hot” especially after motherhood changed my perspective and direction, after repeated failures pulled my eyes to ground. No, I am not tough, but I am still here, after I had stopped wanting to be a tourist to my life and decided to live it even though I do it all wrong. I can only hope my daughter will be punk in a similar way—living a long life and proving the doubters wrong.

For the first prompt, write a poem or essay in response to what a loved one has said to you or criticized you for. Like the poet here, use the criticism as part of your title. Remember, you don’t have to be polite unless you plan to show it to them.

The second prompt is to write a list poem of how you demonstrate that you are here to stay: setting money aside for a trip you won’t take until the kids are out of the house, buying a swimsuit at summer’s end for next summer, planting a tree, buying another book for the unread stack, write a to-do list.

For the third prompt, write a story or poem about the decision you (or a character) made to stay alive in spite of it all. What did you (or the protagonist) give up, give away, take or make in order to make that choice possible.

The next prompt is to take a favorite song and weave the lyrics in as the poet does here with “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads.

For the last prompt, write a poem or story using the following word list: “grudges,” “odds,” “role,” “snow,” “steady,” “surrendered,” “bottle,” “bomb,” “nails,” “gas,” “spite” and “teeth.”

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story about this image. Don’t worry, if Katy Perry can repeat “boom, boom, boom” and “moon, moon, moon” you can too.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Wonder—Prompts Inspired by Lucille Clifton

As always, Lucille Clifton amazes—so much beauty in the imagery and depth in the language.

For the first prompt, describe the muse/god/goddess that sends inspiration to poets and writers generally or to you specifically. Is this being a kind one? If not, why?

The second prompt is to write the invocation to summon inspiration or the poem/story as a whole. Or if you prefer, write it as a recipe or a mathematical equation. What does the poem/story make or solve for you?

As cited in the discussion about the poem, Lucille Clifton stated: “I don’t write out of what I know; I write out of what I wonder. Poetry and art are not about answers to me; they are about questions” https://poets.org/poem/poets-their-bassinets. How that statement conflict or build upon the common adage to “write what you know”? Btw, I recommending checking out the other interesting statements made by the poet’s daughter. Write an essay, poem or story on what you wonder.

For the final prompt, write a poem or story using the following words (or their variations): “dream,” “baby,” “globe,” “smiles,” “report,” “innocence, “believing,” “whimper,” “use” and “terrifying.”

And now to celebrate wonder, here is a bonus prompt: write about these imagined creatures—or similarly unnamed ones—such as the hornless whisperer for the existing horned screamer or the angelic morninglid for the satanic nightjar (yes, this is an actual bird). And check out the artist’s Patreon for more comics: https://www.patreon.com/birdandmoon.

And a bonus, bonus prompt: write an essay, story or poem (perhaps an ode) celebrating Thomas the goose.

Here is more information about the life and love life of Thomas: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43054363.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Featuring the Ugly Mug tomorrow night 8pm!!! And Prompts!

I am so excited to feature for the Two Idiots Peddling Reading at the Ugly Mug. This reading was where I really started learning and writing poetry. It is home.

The Ugly Mug is located at 261 N Glassell St., Orange, CA. Don’t worry that Google Maps will say it is closed or not show the Ugly Mug, which is open only for the reading. Don’t forget that there is a $3 cover though. Here is the link to the event. https://www.facebook.com/100062997712477/posts/pfbid0CB5xCfoKNEosmazrWjzWoQNNqg7pQT1nnHGaY1cAy3TGjXBSdTzmyv9YEKd57bs1l/?

I hope to see you there!!!

(Eventually I will get a new author photo…promise.)

So here is your first prompt: describe the audience who you write for. It can include yourself, in which case use a group photo or selfie for an ekphrastic poem or story. Or write about your dream audience you imagine reading for—all of your literary (or other) heroes. Or perhaps it is the cast of a Disney cartoon or the Muppets, a room full of your friends and family, or perhaps your exes with a thumb tack placed on each seat.

The second prompt is to analyze and describe what you want your poems, essays and/or stories to create in the world. Is it a bridge to yourself, an oasis with fountains and palms, a storm cellar in Kansas, fog lights for a long road trip?

The final prompt is to write a response to another poem, story or essay as if you and that writing’s author are in a private conversation over coffee.

Good luck! Have fun writing!!!

Stolen Fiction Prompts!

So you spent April writing poetry (or stories) and are editing, but you want a break from breaking lines. How about breaking a romance trope? Make your soulmates the targets of each other’s desire to kill the other. Perhaps it was a bad roommate situation, an ancient family curse, a harsh book review or an open mic fight to death.

Choose one of the suggestions here, or come up with your own trope. Perhaps you want to make your redshirt the killer, bring back dinosaurs just so you can kill them again or create a dystopia where everyone hates having too much food, comfort and freedoms. If you need more ideas or want a different genre, check out https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tropes

And if you need a little more realism or what should be fiction, here is this news story: https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/former-university-of-iowa-hospital-employee-used-fake-identity-for-35-years/

And here below is a possible hero for your story, someone I think who totally deserved to get away.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

“We Used Our Words”—Prompts Inspired by Franny Choi

It is the last day of April’s 30/30 challenge. I hope it has been a successful challenge for you, whether you wrote all thirty or one. I have two more poems yet to write, but this year is the first in several in which I have even come close to thirty. Perhaps it’s that I have written so little until now that the words were ready to be pulled from their roots.

I thought Franny Choi’s “We Used Our Words We Used What Words We Had” is a great poem to celebrate the struggle to write daily (or the struggle for me anyway). Here is the link to this poem: https://poets.org/poem/we-used-our-words-we-used-what-words-we-had. If you would like more poems by her or to purchase her books, check out her website: https://www.frannychoi.com/.

For the first prompt, write about the words you most often use—your favorites, like the hammer that best fits your hand. Weave these words you often build your poems into a poem, story or essay, noting their origin, sound and weight.

The second prompt is to read the poem aloud and write down the words that most resonate with you. Create a poem or story from those words.

For the third, write a poem about what you have built in your poems, what do you seek to make permanent even as the “tide still tide.”

Note that the version of the poem posted above is different than that posted on poets.org. What changes with the shorter lines, extra spacing, the breaking of the block into couplets. Take one of your poems written today and rearrange into couplets. What changes in its feel, in the atmosphere?

Bonus prompt: write a poem that celebrates your hard work.

Good luck writing! You’re almost there! Have fun!

Love the Living—Prompts Inspired by Joseph Fasano

As you may know, I despise AI—its theft from actual artists and writers, its environmental impact, the pretense that a chatbot can attain sentience or overcome bias if given enough stolen data and most of all, the inhumanity and dishonesty of those promoting it to devalue actual human labor and experience. While there are some applications for it, such as medical researchers using large language models to study partial genome sequences, most is just the newest NFT scam bubble.

Living is to create and learn—whether painting, drawing, writing, analyzing or problem solving—through the process and struggle. And to sometimes fail, and by failing often learning more than by success. To outsource thinking and making choices—necessary for every creative endeavor—is to hire someone else to drink the wine and participate in the evening’s conversation or to hold the hand of a loved one dying in a hospital.

I so appreciate Joseph Fasano for his generous sharing of others’ poems and for his own poems, especially this one. Here is a link to the poem: https://poets.org/poem/student-who-used-ai-write-paper

For the first prompt, describe a list of tasks that demonstrate love of another human or for an animal or for life itself in a story, poem or essay. Perhaps that is caring for a loved one or pet, planting flowers for bees, picking up trash from a creek or beach or climbing a hill to see the best view of sunset.

The second prompt is write a love (but not necessarily romantic love) poem or story using the following list of words: “let,” “fall,” “grasses,” “life,” “precious,” “earth,” “free,” “living,” “miraculous” and “work.”

The last prompt is to write what your “miraculous task” is whatever genre you choose.

Bonus prompt: write an ekphrastic poem or story from this painting, or write about tools from an animal’s perspective.

Bonus, bonus prompt: Write about who you would choose to sit on this porch swing with and what the moment would be like. Describe the wind, the scents in the air, the water of the Gulf, sound of birds, whatever would evoke bliss for you.

Good luck writing! Remember we’ve almost made it through the challenge! Good luck!

Relative Meaning—Prompts Inspired by Amorak Huey

Growing up in a rural Midwestern town, I found this poem so powerful, but of course I am already biased since I so like his writing and his book Dad Jokes from Late in the Patriarchy. I also wanted to discuss a longer poem since I often feature shorter ones.

For the first prompt, take religion, philosophy, sin, goodness or other abstract concept and explain what it means to you, using a specific experience and providing sensory description in a poem, short story or essay.

The second prompt is to describe what “the path through heartbreak” is to you.

For a third prompt, use the lines “a prayer / to be loved that only the devout can hear” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

The next prompt is to write a list poem of inane statements, such as the white cow eating green grass and making white milk, to attribute to the hand of God. Perhaps, one could be that corn is holy in that it sometimes remains whole after traveling through the digestive tract.

Write about experience in which “[p]urer, simpler faith never existed.” This could be a moment of deep piety or one in which you earnestly prayed to whoever is listening or to fate itself.

For another prompt, write a poem or story using the following word list: “break,” “wager,” “plume,” “bruised,” “steeple,” “translations,” “gaudy,” “tawny,” “martyr,” “sweat,” “throat” and “devout.”

Bonus prompt: what does that the word psalm originates from the Greek verb psallein, “to pull or pluck” and the noun psalmos “the twanging of a harp.” Write a hymn or sacred poem of your own.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Wonderful Experience with Twin Bird Review

I am so grateful to have a poem published in the latest issue of Twin Bird Review: the editor-in-chief, Amanda K. Horn was wonderful to work with and so encouraging, and the artwork chosen to accompany my piece beautiful. I hope to find more art by Xiao Faria da Cunha. If you have time, check out my poem “Why I Remain a Desperate Party Clown,” inspired by Taylor Mali’s Metaphor Dice prompt.

I enjoyed the poems chosen, particularly the three poems by Sirianna Helleloid. I hope you can check them out and the whole issue. Let me know which poems and stories are your favorite (I haven’t finished reading the fiction or the essay yet).

Have a great night!