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!

The Position of the Sun and You—Prompts Inspired by Jonathan Humanoid

I hope you are all reading tons of poetry collections. Alas, I am just not able to concentrate on anything while I am recovering, so I am posting about a poem and a book I read previously (but of course still love so much so that I wrote one of the blurbs). I find the opening image and the mirroring of positions and repetition/replacement of the sun with the speaker and the intended audience powerful and intriguing.

For the first prompt, center a poem or story around an adage or aphorism as the poet did here with the metaphor of the sun. Here is a good starting list of aphorisms: https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/examples-aphorisms. If you want a little more direction, write about the aphorism, “Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom” with imagery of the moon.

The second prompt is to write a four-stanza poem addressed to another person with the first stanza (quatrain or any other) opening with an image that joins the speaker and intended listener, the second developing that image or natural phenomena, the third connecting the image to an emotional or philosophical truth and the fourth reconnecting the image and emotion to the relationship between speaker and the “you” of the poem.

For the third prompt, write a list poem beginning with the line “This isn’t a love poem” as the title or first line (remembering to credit the poet regardless) for what this poem is not.

For the fourth, write a poem or story using the following word list: “sky,” “open,” “letting,” “settle,” “sun,” “still,” “closer,” “perspective,” “trouble” and “turn.”

If you would like to read more, here is the publisher’s link: http://www.arroyosecopress.org/books.html#thumb.

Bonus prompt, write a poem or story about using the following photo for inspiration.

Good luck with the Sealey Challenge. Have fun reading and writing this month!!!

Rain and Recommendation—Prompts Inspired by Ilya Kaminsky

So I haven’t been reading nor writing this month in spite of good intentions. I hope you all are doing much better on the Sealey Challenge than I. I have high hopes for next week though!

Since my attention span is short and Sunday is for small poems, let’s turn to another of my favorites by Ilya Kaminsky.

For the first prompt, use an image or scientific fact or natural phenomenon to be your letter of recommendation in a short poem. Let your final line or stanza make the bridge.

The second prompt is to use the lines “yet I believe / against all evidence” for a ghostline for a poem or story. Remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet. Or use these lines as your title instead, again crediting the poet.

For the third, write a list poem of what has eaten you; provide fractions or percentages. What remains?

Bonus prompt: write a conversation between this fish and the centered moss-covered stone in a poem or story.

Good luck reading this month and writing! Have fun!

“leftover duck”—Prompts Inspired by Tom Snarsky and John Ashbery

I am reposting this since I apparently was very tired and couldn’t read properly—two of the poems are from Tom Snarsky and two are from John Ashbery (and autocorrect changed the spelling of Ashbery’s name). Wow, that’s embarrassing! I need to write prompts during the day from now on!

Today is John Ashbery’s birthday, so let’s celebrate with two of his poems and to Tom Snarsky who is a great poet to follow. I posted all four but only want to focus on one. The other three are bonus poems for tonight.

This poem in particular resonated with me—its imagery and that final line.

The first prompt is to use the poem’s first line as a ghostline. See where it takes you. Remember to delete the line after you’ve finished your poem and credit the poet in an after statement or in the title.

The second is to Mad Lib the second couplet for a writing exercise: _______ is an extended metaphor for / ________, which is half of what _______ does. / The other half is _______ for ________. Now write a poem or short story that develops this idea. Don’t use the lines themselves or do so only as the jumping off point from which you later delete.

For a third prompt, write a poem or story using the following word list: “coats,” “layered,” “unblended,” “shade,” “cool,” “angle,” “brush,” “extended,” “half” and “light.”

Here is the other Snarksky poem and the two Ashbery poems.

For the next prompt, write a poem or story about miscommunication that uses technical terms from a scientific field. Throw in a conspiracy for fun.

For the prompt based on this poem, write a poem or story using the following word list: “logic,” “climate,” “tender,” “turns,” “mountain,” “pouring,” “monument,” “wind, “starching” and “broke.”

The next prompt is to answer this poem’s repeated question (but without the ducks).

The final prompt is print out each of these poems, cut out each word separately and arrange them as you into new lines.

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story based on this photo.

Good luck! Have fun!

For “when the plot calls”—Prompts Inspired by Lisel Mueller

Here is a powerful poem by Lisel Mueller. Notice how everyday language is transformed by its arrangement, how visual it can become with a skilled writer. Thank you, Anthony Robinson, for sharing!!!

For the first prompt, use the last lines “Inside the house / the mirrors burn when I pass” for a ghostline. See where that line takes you. Remember to erase the line after you’ve written your poem and credit the poet with an “after Lisel Mueller” statement or another acknowledgment.

The second prompt is a Mad Libs writing exercise: replace the nouns and verbs with their opposites. If you discover a line you particularly like, use that line as your very own ghostline for a poem or short story.

The third prompt is another writing exercise, creating a poem structured similar to this one. Use your title to indicate time: night or sunset or perhaps the day of the week or a season, whatever you like. Your first line(s) will introduce an action as if it part of a script or story (that happens or doesn’t happen in the aforementioned period of time). The second line(s) will refer to the time introduced in the title with perhaps additional detail (season or time of day or a month) and offers an action. The third line(s) will reinforce the theme of plot, story, fate, etc. and will either prevent the action or erase its consequence. The last line(s) will end on an evocative image. Again this is just for practice and the resulting poem may be too similar to the original for publication.

For a final prompt, write a story or poem that uses the following word list: “even,” “calls,” “stone,” “summer,” “outside,” “opens,” “inside,” “mirrors” and “pass.” Try to switch the parts of speech/word classes.

Bonus prompt: write a story or poem based on this photo.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

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!

For “the hollow mouth at evening’s edge”—Prompts Inspired by Luther Hughes

Let me see the world as making love in the bowing of trees, beauty even in the breakage.

For the first prompt, describe a scene of destruction, and near the end, use the line “What if this were love” and answer how it could be. Be sure to italicize the line or use quotation marks around it and credit the author in your title, such as “with line from Luther Hughes or similar acknowledgement.

The second prompt is to write a love poem to a force of nature—lightning, the tide, a storm surge. What is given back?

For a third prompt, write a poem or story using the following words: “felled,” “hollow,” “humble,” “bowed,” “habit,” “gust,” “chore,” “bargained,” “distance” and “stay.”

The last prompt is to use “if wind bargained for beauty, let go of its kingdom” as a ghostline, using it as a starting point and then erasing it. Do credit the poet in the title or provide an “after Luther Hughes” acknowledgment.

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story using the following photo as its setting or for its mood.

Additional bonus prompt (less bleak one): write a poem or story about bending, but not breaking.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Plant Your Own Metaphors—Prompt by Perugia Press

WiFi was spotty in the Ozarks, so here is a short post with a borrowed prompt. I will do a longer post later in the week.

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story with dialogue about values between two trees. For example, what would the sandbox tree (hura crepitans) say about symbolism to an apple tree, or an oak to a willow?

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Muppet Time!—Prompts Inspired by Aruni Wijesinghe

I got to see this poem develop in a workshop and utterly love it. Btw, it is included in Aruni’s book 2 Revere Place, published by Moon Tide Press, https://www.moontidepress.com/books.

For the first prompt, take a muppet or beloved children’s character and write a thoroughly modern, realistic story or poem—perhaps a sonnet, hey!— about that character. Provide clues throughout but leaving the most obvious one for the final stanza or paragraph.

The second prompt is to write a poem or story that starts with a Mad Lib of the line “On Sesame Street, love wears striped sweaters,” but replacing the street and “striped sweaters” with your own. See where it takes you.

The third prompts is write a list poem detailing “small moments of awkward intimacy.”

The next prompt is taken from Emma Bolden, another fabulous poet, in which you write a poem or story based on a famous movie that now has muppets.

Or throw in a muppet anywhere you like:

And the final prompt: pair a human character from a TV show, movie or book with a muppet, or with you as a muppet.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

“Empty Vessel”—Prompts Inspired by Taylor Franson-Thiel

Note that this poem has a content warning for religious violence / trauma.

Here is such a beautiful poem that weaves facts with the religious and the personal that I now have to find more poems by the poet and to read issues of Stone Circle Review, which published the poem. Here is the poem’s link in the journal: https://stonecirclereview.com/hymn-for-a-faith-crisis/

For the first prompt, replicate the poem’s structure by referencing a recent scientific study in the first stanza but with the stanza’s last line introducing the image/concept developed in the second stanza. The second stanza weaves that new concept with imagery of the body and/or religious themes. The third stanza builds upon those themes, making sure that imagery or language from the scientific study is included. The fourth stanza continues the imagery and themes but also includes specific definitions or scripture. End the poem with a couplet.

The second prompt is a writing exercise only as it would be too similar to the original. Use the poem’s structure and wording as is but replacing the poet’s nouns with your own. However, you could see if any of the revised lines call to you and use one of them as the first line to a poem or story. Make sure your poem has a completely different structure—both in stanzas and individuals lines—though.

The third prompt is to use “How as a child you, an empty vessel, were filled” as ghostline, the first line of a poem or story that you complete and then erase. Remember to credit the poet for your inspiration.

Another prompt is to write a poem or story using the following list of words: “clouds,” “staircase,” “arrow,” “nape,” “fingerprints,” “pearls,” “vessel,” “stripped,” “vacant,” “interpret,” “temple” and “breath.”

The last prompt is to use the image “You grow a granite staircase up your spine” as either a ghostline or as the title of your poem, making sure the poet is credited.

And perhaps because of my own upbringing and background, I see an angel in the clouds and also a pissed off Victorian lady. For a bonus prompt, write epistle (a letter in verse) to her.

Bonus bonus prompt: for a play on the word “vessel” write a poem or story about a boat or ship.

Good luck! 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!

Language without Violence—Prompts Inspired by Nickole Brown

So awed by Nickole Brown’s poem I have to share it today. If you want to listen to the poet read her poem, here is the link: https://poets.org/poem/parable.

For the first prompt, do listen to the poet read and write down the particular words that catch you. From your the word list you created, write a poem or story.

The second prompt is another word list, this time writing a story or poem using as many of the words the poet italicized you can: “broken,” “cicada,” “giddy-up,” “whoa,” “good,” “girl,” “shushing,” “that,” “come,” “here,” “now,” “mane,” “wind,” “wings,” “ours,” “let,” “live,” “Please” and “us.”

A third prompt is to use a common saying and explore what its usage indicates about society, perhaps its violence or focus on the body as its metaphor for hierarchies (“head,” “bottom,”) or its ableist origins (“blind,” lame,”). Or explore society’s agricultural roots (pun intended) through its idioms.

For the next prompt, try to imagine how another creature would understand natural phenomena, such as day and night, winter and summer, and the emotional and physical states of hunger, loss, safety and joy in a story or poem.

Another prompt is to write a poem or story using “Touch her there, gently now, touch that” as your first line; as with all ghostlines, erase that line and give credit to the poet.

The last prompt is to write a list poem of how animals tell us “Let us live.”

Bonus prompt: create a new language for the movements sculpted here.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

The Tender of Others—Prompts Inspired by Carla Sofia Ferreira

This is such a tender, loving poem from a wonderful poem shared by another great poet. Particularly now I feel the needs for such poems to read and to share.

For the first prompt, share an experience of kind words given to by a child or student. Be as gentle as you need.

The second prompt is to start a poem or story with the line “Today, ____ tell me that I look like ____,” filling in the blank spaces with your own nouns.

The third prompt is write a poem or story from this word list from the poem: “existed,” “simple,” “tender,” “care,” “heal,” “kindness,” “waffles,” “compliments,” “shared” and “garden.”

For the final prompt, describe how you would like to take care of others, whether living creatures or objects, in poem or story. Perhaps, you would like to fix the loosened spines of books, quilt baby blankets to donate, clear off nature trails and paths, socialize animals so that they can be adopted, cook stews and nourishing soups for others to warm up with, all of the million ways we can give ourselves.

Bonus prompt: write an ekphrastic poem or story based on this photo of from Washington Park in Portland.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Ghosts, Pelicans and Other Unnatural Creatures—Ekphrastic Prompts

How is the 30/30 challenge going for you? I am a little behind but think I may be able to finish the thirty poems for April. Remember there’s just a few more days left, so keep on writing!

For the first prompt, choose one of the images or let the entire illustration inspire you to write a poem or story.

An additional prompt is to write how and what you would choose to communicate to your loved ones if you could after your passing. Variation: how would you choose to communicate to an enemy.

On a similar topic, what would your chatbot tell people. What “hallucinations” would you imagine it to have?

Now let’s move from the dead to born-again pelicans.

The next prompt is to write a poem or story about this medieval understanding of the pelican, connecting it to other religious symbolism or mythologies, perhaps a persona poem from either the parent or the chick.

The next prompt is based on actual pelicans and their desire to fit the world in their beaks. Explore that hunger in a poem or story.

Write about one of these photos. What are the thoughts of the giraffe? Confusion? Amusement?

What did the pelican in the backseat of the police cruiser do? Was he innocent? Did the cops plant a half-eaten fish near his nest? Write about the trial. Will he be acquitted? Who is his lawyer, Perrican Mason?

Write an ekphrastic poem or story about the monster pictured here, or check out the Wikipedia entry for more about the movie Monster from the Ocean Floor if you wish to know more (photo is from a previous exhibit of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA).

Bonus prompt: You probably have heard of the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, Mothman or other cryptid. Write about one of them (again you can check out the Wikipedia entry on “List of cryptids” for more information), or create your own in a poem or story.

Good luck! Have fun!