Because We All Need Some Happiness—A Twitter Prompt

With all the stress and uncertainty, sometimes we need to harvest some small joy. Write a poem about a time you were utterly blissful. Perhaps it was during a relationship that didn’t last or maybe it was a time during childhood and that hopefulness is long gone; regardless, focus on that moment of elation.

Happy poems can be more difficult to write than sad ones. Pain and sorrow seem to translate across barriers and languages. We might worry that cheerful poems will come across as shallow or lazily sentimental—and they can—so practice writing joy so that your audience can experience it too. (This instruction is directed at myself more than anyone else.)

Bonus prompt: write a persona poem from the mouse. Be extravagant in your delight.

Another Stolen Twitter Prompt—Gathering Your Field of Ducks (per Autocorrect)

We don’t always get what we want but perhaps we do get what we deserve:

Write a poem in which you did this and, damn, did you ever. Or write a short story that’s story arc can summed up by this.

Good luck reaping what you sowed, but, hey, you got a story or a poem out of it. Good enough.

Flower-headed People, the Best People—Ekphrastic Prompts Inspired by Shaylin Wallace

I fell in love with these amazing photos by Shaylin Wallace. If only I could have my head replaced with flowers so that I could feed on light and my entire face could open up for my lover.

For the first prompt, write a monologue from one of these four portraits.

For the second prompt, write a conversation by the four of them. Or describe the language they share. Does it hum like bees or the ruffling of small wings? What does it mean when one of them opens up? Do the others listen? Do bees and other pollinators carry their words to one another?

For a third prompt, choose the one that represents you and explain why. If none of them resonate with you, check out the artist’s website, which include titles for these portraits. And here is where you can get reprints.

Here is the website in case the links don’t work: https://www.smwvisuals.com/photo-manipulations

OMG, It’s August and I Am Already Two Days Behind on the Sealey Challenge!

So I certainly know that one of the best ways to become a better writer is to be a voracious reader. I heard in a workshop (and of course cannot remember which or by whom) that writers need to spend three hours reading for every hour of writing. If Twitter counts, I certainly do that; otherwise…

Poet Nicole Sealey created the Sealey Challenge—read 31 poetry books or chap books in 31 days. Like NaPoWriMo (April’s writing 30 poems in 30 days challenge), there is no trophy, but the goal is to make you a better reader and writer, and online communities recommend and discuss books. The challenge is a way to promote new and lesser known authors too.

If you are interested in joining me, let me know! And of course send me your book recommendations!

Here is what I am reading now: Ways We Vanish by Todd Dillard. It’s excellent!

For your prompt, use the title “Ways Things Vanish” by Todd Dillard and create a list poem. Here are the first few lines of the poem (this link takes you to the entire poem in the journal Cotton Xenomorph).

Write a Damn Happy Poem—A Prompt and Reminder for Myself

I still am struggling with a lack of inspiration and motivation—the day slips by without me even starting what I had intended to finish. So much is terrible that it is difficult for me to find a quiet enough space inside to create something of my own.

Now it seems impossible to not echo the loss and rage all around (and feel guilt at my fortune in not losing anyone or being targeted). I recently wrote a poem that tried to explore some of the history of racial injustice in the US but instead sounded as if I were appropriating other people’s pain, and some of the language and imagery I used did not match my intention.

I am lucky to have friends who can read and point out my mistakes and offer me guidance, but of course I am responsible for ensuring I don’t appropriate another person’s experiences and that I don’t center myself in other people’s struggles.

I also don’t want to feel as if I am mining my own pain just for a poem to show off as if it were some trendy piece of jewelry, nor do I want to trap myself within my own trauma and erase all the joys I also experienced. Or forget that I survived. I found comedian Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette” and “Douglas” to address these issues brilliantly.

Likewise I found Gaia Rajan’s poem “Inside Every Poem You Can Hear Muffled Screams” to be incredibly powerful and insightful. I know I will come back to it again and again.

Your prompt is to write a poem in which you free yourself within the poem from the cage you already escaped.

Bonus prompt: imagine spilling your guts and out came flowers and herbs.

Structure a Poem—An Editing Prompt Prompted by Twitter

A while back I read a fascinating discussion between two poets. Since then I have been thinking about quatrains as rooms and trying to visualize what a couplet would be. A covered porch, a gazebo? Here is the discussion below:

What kind of structure feels most natural to you? Or do you experiment with multiple forms? Why or why not? Has your structure changed over time?

For this prompt, take a poem you’ve written and reorganize it into first quatrains or then into couplets. Think of this process as creating spaces—either covered patios or indoor rooms. See what the affect of the extra line space affects the pacing. Which feels fits the poem better? Think about why and possibly even write down these differences to clarify this for yourself.

Analyze a set of four or five poems all related on a theme and edit them specifically for structure. See if the restructuring changes the overall feel.

If you wish, you can try to use this as a writing prompt: consciously write a poem as if you were building a structure with each stanza of quatrain as a wall/support or each couplet a covered walkway moving the poem along. What do you see? What is upheld by your structure? Where do you end up?

Bonus prompt: using sound associations of the word “monostrophe,” address a poem—in one stanza—to a monster. Good luck!

Saint Yourself Into an Obscure Deity—More Twitter Prompts from a Slacker

Still have not finished what I need to work on, and I am even having difficulty coming up with synonyms. My head is a TV with a dangling bunny ear antennae…all static and snow. I hope the rest of you are more productive.

If I were a patron saint, it would have to be of blank pages/screens and a nervously tapping foot. This next prompt is provided by @sharksandpoems on Twitter:

For this prompt, choose something small and specific or mundane. Let others be the saints of thunder and death, rebirth, truth and light. Be the patron saint of petrichor, of Vicks Vapor Rub, of the small bowl of extra pennies at a gas station.

Or elevate yourself to full-on deity, but be petty: god of the well, actually or goddess of the smirk-at-your-pandemic-pajamas-on-Zoom. Or be useful and unassuming: be the god of a lens wipe, goddess of the paper clip, the deity of the Forever stamp.

Or make yourself a nature divinity, one of a specific rock formation or tree branch or curve in a river.

For more ideas, check out this list of Roman deities: https://www.unrv.com/culture/minor-roman-god-list.php (apparently I cannot use the link function tonight, sigh).

Sharp Edge, Teeth and Claws, A Basket of Goodies, A Path and a Bed—Prompt for What Lies Inside

What if inside each of us is a little girl wandering through a forest, an old woman waiting, a woodcutter sharpening an ax, the forest itself growing and dying and growing, a big bad wolf seeking to eat the young and tender and the aged and wise, and an ax swinging.

Write a poem or short story about what grows inside of you or another, remaining hidden and trapped, and what else cuts its way out into the world.

A Post About Not Posting and a Random Generator of Threats—Stolen Twitter Prompt

As you probably noticed, it has been weeks since I posted anything. Partly this is due stressing myself out because I promised to promote friends’ work—I often perform best when I care the least. Mostly though, I am not writing or even reading. I simply did not have any creativity or motivation. These days feel as if I am eating Saltines in the Sahara—dry, very dry.

Last night’s virtual reading helped—thank you, Eric Morago for Shout—I once again experienced the shiver from hearing a powerful poem. I even managed to write a (bad) poem this morning. This coming week, I will being posting regularly again. But baby steps. So here is a stolen Twitter prompt:

Write a poem or short story using the generator.

You will of course want to expand the poem and give credit to the generator if you wish to publish what you’ve written.

Below is a bonus ekphrastic prompt:

Poems to Share

Today is just too hard of a day to think of anything to write or pretend that this country is just and good, so I want to share these powerful poems by Rita Dove, Karisma Price, and Danez Smith.

I am in awe of the artistry and the beauty—as well I should be for a former U.S. poet laureate, but even within that exalted level, there are distinctions. Here is a link to more of Rita Dove’s poetry published online by the American Academy of Poets.

Below is Karisma Price’s breathtaking poem. Here is the poet’s website if you would like to read more.

Below is the poem “not an elegy for Mike Brown” by Danez Smith, also available online by the American Academy of Poets. Please check out the poet reading excerpts from Don’t Call Us Dead.

I do apologize for the disproportionate sizing.

Create a Game, a Poem, a Joy—Prompts Inspired by Kelli Russell Agodon and Melissa Studdard

With board games, puzzles and almost indoor entertainment backordered, let’s follow the example of Kelli Russell and Melissa Studdard and create our own games in this time of isolation and panic.

Create your own version of traditional games—gather duplicate photos of your friends for a game of Memory or use birthday cards, holiday cards, and invitations as a personalized deck of cards for Solitaire. Print out photos of flowers and landscape or crowded city streets from your last trip or group selfies from meeting with friends for coffee or drinks or going out to the movies and then cut puzzle pieces out of all of them and mix them up. Try to put your world back together.

Play the game you have made and write about the experience. Did you win?

Bonus prompt: choose one of the poem’s Bingo spaces that you have recently landed on and write about it. Remember to go easy on yourself. Let yourself win this round.

More Twitter Thefts—An Editing Suggestion and Prompt

Unlike me, many of you probably completed the 30 poems in a 30 days challenge. That is awesome! Now for even more fun: editing those poems! Below is a Twitter discussion that I found really intriguing. The original conversation began as quirky ways people approach reaching poems and novels, but then poet Julia Beach explained why she first reads The last three words of the fourth line from the bottom in other people’s poems and in her own as the poem’s key.

Take one of the poems you’ve written recently, or perhaps one that has never really come together, and try seeing if this “map” helps you cut and expand the rest of the poem to fit that vision.

Here is the prompt: use this same reading process of using the last three words of the fourth line from the bottom of a poem and use them as your opening line and build a poem from there. See where you end up. You can then choose to erase those three words so that they function as a ghostline or you can keep them, using italics or quotation marks. Either way, be sure to give the poet credit.

Bonus prompt: what does this tree remind you of? A key, a warning, the devil’s spork? Write a poem or story about coming across this tree in an abruptly silent forest. What does it mean?

Mother’s Day—Prompts

Today was a hard day. Many people cannot see their mothers due to the risk of spreading the virus or because of distance (and restrictions on travel) or by loss. I am sorry. It is hard to be away from loved ones and harder still when we can never see them again. And it is difficult for people who had to cut family ties for their self-preservation or whose continued meetings with family bring more pain than joy.

For the first prompt, write a poem about a moment in time when you and your mom seemed to completely understand one another. Try to create a conversation between the two using the contrapuntal form (discussed in a previous blog post).

Or perhaps nothing was said, but your eyes met or you reacted the same way simultaneously. If so, describe the setting. Use inclusive language as if even the furniture and pictures on the wall and the TV show playing in your home were all part of this moment with the two of you. Or if outside, bring the breeze, the humming of insects, the smell of grass into the experience.

If you have never shared a happy moment of understanding with a mother, write about that moment you did have with someone else. Family can be by blood or by choice. Celebrate a loved one.

Here is a lovely poem by Ada Limón that can be your inspiration.

For the next prompt, write a poem using the following words from “The Raincoat”: “brace,” “work,” “unspooled,” “unclouded,” “drive,” “unfettered,” “home,” “solid,” “give,” and “whole.”

For the last prompt, start a poem using “I never asked” from “The Raincoat” and go from there. As always, give credit to the author.

May the Fourth Be With You—Poems and Prompts

Let’s celebrate all things geeky: Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, RPGs, anime, monsters, Marvel and more (and, no, this list is NOT complete)!

For the first prompt, make a list of characters from well-known superhero, sci if, and fantasy franchises (could be from books, comic books, movies, TV shows, anything). Now make a second list of characters from those or other well-known series (worlds). Lastly, mix them up. Put Legolas in Star Trek’s infamous red shirt and discover if he can glide his way out of Phaser range, have Poison Ivy take Herbology at Hogwarts, throw Link into let a Cylon become the next Slayer. Go wild.

Or Mary Sue yourself into the world you have always wanted to join. Choose your own adventure and explore this world you have so long loved. You can be the hero.

Or write about your favorite monster or perhaps just the monster of the week. For inspiration, listen to poet Heidi Denkers read Adrian Ernesto Cepeda’s “ (available at Moon Tide Press) and her own Godzilla poem. Enjoy!

Yes, poetry is a trap—it is the quicksand so ubiquitous in 80s cartoons that will suck you down—but you may make a new friend…

Good luck!

From the Peabody Essex museum, Salem, MA

Last Day of NaPoWriMo (or Last Day of 30/30, but I am 15 poems behind….)—Prompt

Many of you are organized, industrious souls who have one or perhaps two poems left to write to reach the 30-poem challenge. For you, your prompt is to write a poem listing all of your achievements—small or large—and just take the time to be proud of yourself.

For the rest of us, let’s save that prompt for the last poem and keep going until we reach 30 poems. Perhaps that will be mid-May or longer. No matter. We will get there when we do and celebrate just as much.

Here is the day 30’s prompt from NaPoWriMo just to keep us motivated:

For the links posted on this page, click on the NaPoWriMo link above this screenshot. And do check out previous prompts at the organization’s website—you are sure to find one you really like

The Loneliest Whale in the World—Prompt for the 52 Hertz Whale

We all feel alone at times—as if the words we speak fall to the ground the moment they leave our lips or the gestures and signs we make always seem unseen in a dark cloud surrounding us. Some days we feel as if the language we use is understood by no one else in the world, and we will spend our days and the years in solitary wandering.

A whale whose song is at a frequency heard by no other whales was first discovered in 1989 and has remained alone ever since. Listen to narrator of this YouTube video wonder if the whale finds his existence one of welcome solitude or aching isolation. Btw, I found this video on Facebook, shared by Tresha Faye Haefner and Robbi Nester.

For your prompt, write a monologue from the whale.

Bonus prompt: answer the whale’s call. What would you sing in reply?

CPSC.gov Gives a Wild Ride—Prompts

So I normally think of our government agencies as stodgy, and then I discovered the Twitter account of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission…and my world upended.

The first prompt is an ekphrastic challenge. Write what you see. Include some interpretation if you prefer. Best wishes.

For the second prompt, write a monologue from the person/anthropomorphic cat/unknowable entity in charge of this Twitter account. Or if that is too difficult, write a poem simply describing the cubicle and desk of this person/fox-knight kitty/alien creature.

Btw, you too can follow @USCPSC on Twitter.

Bonus prompt: describe hanging out with your Enchanted Scorpion. What movies do the two of you binge?

Please do one of these prompts and share. Would LOVE to read your poem!

Good luck!

A New Grief Walks into a Bar—Prompts Inspired by Laura Eve Engel

These next prompts are inspired by Laura Eve Engel’s “My New Grief,” shared by Sam Sax. For the first prompt, use the first line of the poem “If there is new grief” as a ghostline. Don’t forget to erase the line after you’ve finished the poem (does that ever happen?) and give credit to the poet.

For the next prompt, make a list of griefs or fears. Which is the newest? Write a poem in which the new grief or sorrow meets your old, familiar worries/sorrows for drinks or for coffee. What do they talk about? Which one dominates the conversation? Which others give away and listen respectfully? Who pays the bill; do they divide it equally? Which tips the most? Which leaves first?

For the last prompt, make a list of things you did not do. Use “like it’s something I own” as your title.

Pick Your Quarantine House—Prompt

For this prompt, choose one of the following as your haven during this pandemic. Make even the house’s drawback a benefit—the bedbugs sing lullabies to you at night, the ghosts help you find your phone and your slippers, the ass is an excellent cook, and you enjoy freedom from news and animal requests.

Bonus prompt: Make one of the quarantine houses your setting for a short story. Create characters (between 3-5) and have them interact under stress.

Write a Poem for Your Loved—Prompt

I received some sad news. So the prompt for tonight is this: write a poem for a family member to let that person know how much you love them. That is all we can do.

I wish you and everyone you love life without sickness or ending or pain.