Distractions—Prompts Inspired by Anne Carson

So this month has not gone as planned. I read a chapbook, chose a poem and promptly (pun intended) lost the damn book. Since then, my brain has been filled with dryer lint and stale crackers. Even small tasks seem beyond me; everything is consumed by work even at home. I won’t pretend I will be able to catch up on posts this month, but I hope to start reading poetry regularly again rather than just snippets here and there. Since I am reading slowly, I decided to choose a collection that requires time for reflection: Anne Carson’s Glass, Irony & God.

I like the idea that God is as distracted as I am, procrastinating the to-do list in favor of something shiny. Perhaps I could develop a feel for God then, even a sympathy.

For the first prompt, write what creature or plant God chose to work on instead of creating mercy.

The second prompt is to use the line “God could see the machinery humming” as the title or first line of a story or poem, remembering to credit Carson.

For the next prompt, write a list of five insects, flowers or animals and a list of five tools and appliances. Mix and match to see what resonates.

The last prompt is to write a poem or story using the following list of words: “track,” “long,” “turquoise,” “bend,” “transparent,” “mounted,” “glassy,” “bank,” “humming,” and “vibrated.”

Bonus prompt: write if the dragonfly’s creation was worth the lack of justice or what creation would be. Or just write whatever you want to about a dragonfly lying on the sand.

Good luck!

Rivers, Tigers and Doors—Prompts Inspired by Lindsey Wayland

I admit I am biased: I search for poems with unexpected turns. Lindsey Wayland’s “There Are Lights to Turn On After Discuss” is a gorgeous journey from the opening image clear water leading brown leaves and the “meandering” evolution from silent animal to what we are and have now.

For the first prompt, make two lists: the first is five natural objects (e.g. thistle, plateau, boulder, millipede, buzzard) and five of modern man-made objects or tools (coffeemaker, vacuum cleaner, flashlight, scissors). Choose the two items from the separate lists that resonate for you and write about change and connections in an essay or poem. What do the two items have in common and what do they say about humans and our destination?

The second prompt is to use the line “The river and tiger have little in common” as either your first line or as a ghostline, in which the line is erased after the poem or story is drafted. Remember to credit the poet in an after statement, in your title or in a note.

For the third prompt, write a poem in which natural phenomena have agency, like the wind does here.

The next prompt is to make a connection between the river and tiger here and the tiger and door in the Frank R. Stockton’s story “The Lady, or the Tiger?” Maybe throw in the choice between a man and a bear in the woods. See what happens.

The last prompt is to write a poem or story using the following word list from the poem: “rushes,” “leading,” “leaves,” “meandering,” “sighs,” “open,” “adjust,” “lights,” “dusk” and “animals.”

Here are two photos of a baby alligator being tossed marshmallows to eat. For your bonus prompt, write about unintended consequences.

Good luck writing!

“Perhaps churches”—Prompts Inspired by Czeslaw Milosz

Czeslaw Milosz’s “At a Certain Age” is a fun poem. I love the idea of chasing clouds, the wind, people and pets for forgiveness and that ending image of the toad. I am too thin skinned to be a toad, more like a frog, skin slick and slime covered. But, yes, all along I was a frog sitting on my rump in the damp muck, perched and parched for kisses.

For the first prompt, write a confession in an epistolary (letter) poem or story and address your confessor directly.

For the second, write in prose or verse whose confession you need to hear. What penance, if any, would you assign?

The third prompt is to write a story about trying to confess, but, as with the poem, no person, no creature, nothing will listen. Nothing in existence or beyond can absolve you (or your protagonist).

For the next prompt, write an essay and use the poem’s title, “At a Certain Age,” for your own title, giving the poet credit.

The last prompt is to write a poem or story using the following list of words: “takers,” “succeed,” “order,” “immoral,” “conversations,” “vodka,” “prolonged,” “churches,” “noble” and “eyelid.”

Bonus prompt: write an ode (praise poem) to this frog or to its surroundings.

Bonus prompt: reflect upon poet Todd Dillard’s writing process/guide and write an essay about your own or a demonstrate it within a story or poem. Or create a meme for your own process and editorial guide. Have fun.

Good luck writing.

Last Lines—Prompts Inspired by Suzanne Buffam

Sunday is a small-poem appreciation on Bluesky, and Suzanne Buffam’s “On Last Lines” is a banger.

The first prompt is to write a poem that provides writing advice or demonstrates a technique.

For the second prompt, write an essay that reflects on what you look for in a piece of writing. What do you admire or wish to improve in our own writing and why?

The third prompt is to write a short poem. Mine are usually awful, but some writers are amazing.

The last prompt is to use the line “You should never see it coming” as the title or first line of a poem or short story. Remember to credit the poet in an after statement and place the line in quotation marks or italics.

I’ve definitely experienced this while writing or, perhaps worse, writing a poem that is driving itself to the ending, a predictable “let’s-put-a big-shiny-bow-on-this-poem kind of ending. For your bonus prompt, write a poem that demonstrates this meme all the while lamenting the difficulty of finishing (anything).

Last prompt: write about a flag on end of pier and the sun setting on an empire built on rickety stilts.

Good luck.

“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!