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!

Earth Day—Prompt and Poem from Jared Beloff

I love this poem and the prompt. Jared Beloff is a wonderful poet to read and to listen to at readings. I still haven’t gotten his book Who Will Cradle Your Head, although it is on my to-buy list. You can buy it and read individual poems on his website (listed below).

Btw, I have really enjoyed all the poems and prompts posted by Moist Poetry Journal.

For a second prompt, write a poem or story starting from the line “our hands swooping” (or rather the image). As with all ghostlines, erase the line and credit the poet for your inspiration.

A third prompt is to write a love poem or story using the following words “kept,” “pockets,” “sprinkle,” “bare,” “curve,” “rustle,” “skin” and “song.”

Bonus prompt: write about a moment under skies filled with birds and their cries. Connect their flight, the sounds of flapping and calls to your own emotional state.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Fun-guy Prompts

While this is a prompt meant for Bluesky, I think it works for others too (especially the description used). I am a huge fan of mushrooms, lichen and fungus, so I am using today’s prompts as an excuse to post photos of these fascinating organisms.

For an additional prompt, use the following words from description and the alt text: “sprout,” “spores,” “bracket,” “rings,” “skinned,” “caramel,” “hint,” “crumple,” “dampshine” and “tones.”

A third prompt is to research lichen or fungus and see what sprouts (pun intended of course) an idea. Perhaps this article will prompt a poem or story: https://www.discovery.com/nature/the-largest-living-thing-on-earth-is-a-3-5-square-mile-fungus.

Write an ekphrastic poem or story about these cuties.

Or this frilly girl.

Or write about the one below as if it were an alien being. What does it want or do? How does it communicate?

Is there cooperation or competition here?

And, finally, write a poem or story using the photo and the given title (crediting both to William Aegerter).

Good luck! Have fun with fungus!

“Graveyard of suns”—Prompts Inspired by Lara Coley

We are at the midpoint of 30/30! I hope you are enjoying the process of writing, if not daily, then more often than usual. Or if you are someone who already writes daily: wonderful!

Such beautiful lines in this poem by Lara Coley, I hope they will inspire your next poem or story. Here is the link if you are interested in her book: https://buttonpoetry.com/product/ex-traction/.

For the first prompt, use the first line “You are disappearing into the shadows of the past” for a ghostline. Remember to erase this line and give credit to the poet for the inspiration.

The second prompt is to imagine all of your body as territory staked to a current partner, former lovers, a child, a pet or even the sun or a plant. Perhaps your lap is designated to a cat, your left hand to pet a dog, your cheeks to redden in the sun. How do the different owners navigate your borders?

For the third prompt, write a poem or story using the following list: “shadows,” “darkness,” “mangled,” “ghosts,” “flesh,” “stake,” “luminous,” “whispering,” “graveyard” and “shine.”

The last prompt is to create a list poem of graveyards. Who or what is buried there? What characterizes each? Which will you go to when it is time?

Good luck writing! Have fun!

“God is red”—Prompts Inspired by Arminé Iknadossian

As is obvious from previous posts, I love poems that use color as the throughline, and this poem is gorgeous, as are all of hers that I’ve read. I know I will turn over and over to the imagery and power in Arminé Iknadossian‘s All That Wasted Fruit. 

For the first prompt, begin a poem or story by personifying a color as the first line here does: “Red is so needy; so eager / to spill onto the floor.”

The second prompt is to use the line “You taught me that God is,” replacing “red” with your own adjective or noun. After you have finished the poem or story, remember to erase the line and credit the poet for your inspiration, perhaps in the title or in an after statement under the title.

The last prompt is to write a story or poem using the following list of words: “needy,” “cracks,” “palms,” “bridge,” “blush,” “field,” “reminders,” “bare,” “blood” and “slap.”

Bonus prompt: imagine that each golden pollen is a sentient being, longing to be carried away or even to be consumed, and write a love poem from the pollen to a bee. Or use this variant: write the poem as a prayer from the pollen to its god to be blessed with the bee.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

“little knives”—Prompts Inspired by and by Rachel McKibbens

I was excited to learn that Rachel McKibbens is writing daily prompts for this April. I loved the previous prompts she has posted on her blog, http://rachelmckibbens.blogspot.com/. In fact her prompt 104# on the site is a great one if you are stuck.

I wanted to share this poem, which I love. Here is the link if you wish to listen to her read it: https://poets.org/poem/remember-boys. Her books—blud, Into the Dark & Emptying Field and Pink Elephant—are ones that I turn to again and again.

For the first prompt, write a poem or story about the group you wanted to join and why.

The second prompt is a to use the lines “How different would I be, / how much bigger, if I had been _____ as the start of your poem or story. As with all ghostlines, remember to erase the lines and credit the poet for your inspiration.

A third prompt is to use the following words from the “Remember the Boys” to write your own poem or story: “nest,” “hum,” “sting,” “knives,’ “crawl,” “storm,” “gospel,” “flinch,” “room” and “terror.”

Below is a prompt on Instagram from the poet. Be sure to follow her for more prompts.

Bonus prompt: write an ekphrastic poem or story from the photo below.

Good luck writing this month! Have fun!

Know This—Prompts Inspired by Kelly Grace Thomas Vojdani

I love poems that originate from an obscure (to me) fact, and this wonderful poem is no exception (I admit that I am biased though—I think her poetry collection Boat Burned and the individual poems I’ve read are all fantastic).

For the first prompt, take a random/obscure fact—perhaps that it is illegal to get an elephant drunk in the city of Natchez, MS—and build a poem or story from that.

The second prompt is to use a factual statement as a title of a poem or story (“There Are No Stop Signs in Paris”) and the first line/sentence as a result (“So cars and silk-scarved women savor time like it’s theirs”) with all subsequent lines expanding upon the results with concrete details (even if there isn’t a direct correlation).

For a third prompt, use “I remembered what it meant to / call hunger mine” for your first line and go from there. Remember to erase the line and credit the poet for your inspiration. Or if you prefer, use the line for your title, still crediting the poet.

The next prompt is to write a poem or short story using the following words from the poem: “silk,” “savor,” “coast,” “lipstick,” “suitcase,” “hunger, “cost,” “flute,” “drag” and “glittering.”

Instead of the absence of signs, let’s move to descriptive (or ominous) signs.

Bonus prompt: write an ekphrastic poem or story based on one (or both) of these photos of bathroom signs.

Good luck writing! Have fun with facts today (or with signs)!

Poets & Writers Poetry Prompt Inspired by Jessica Abughattas

How is the first week of poems coming? Oof, a little rough for me, which does not bode well for the rest of the month. Here is a prompt from Poets & Writers, which posts weekly fiction and creative non-fiction prompts, in addition to poetry prompts, throughout the year). Here is the link for the latest poetry prompt: https://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises.

While this prompt is similar to a previous one I posted (that one inspired by Beth Marquez who also structured the poem using a repeated “because”), its focus is on what is not said than the anaphora itself.

Here is “Litany for My Father“ by Jessica Abughattas. Check out other great poets and poems at Split This Rock, https://www.splitthisrock.org/poetry-database.

For a second prompt, use one of the lines, perhaps “Because home is too far for the scent of,” for the first line of your poem and go from there. Remember to erase the line and credit the poet for your inspiration with an “after Jessica Abughattas,” or you can use “Ghostline from Jessica Abughattas” in your title if you prefer.

A third prompt is to write a story or poem from the following list: “search,” splayed,” “plastic,” “drive,” “quartz,” “scent,” “beads,” “carving” oven,” “penance” and “upturned.”

Bonus prompt: write a poem describing this old fort or a story in which this is the setting.

Good luck writing this month! Have fun!

30/30 IS HERE!!!

It is the 30/30 challenge again! April is National Poetry Month, and the challenge is to write a poem every day for this month. NaPoWriMo.net posts prompts as well as participants’ poems. Check out this month’s prompts and poems as well as those from previous years. You can also submit your own website there to have your poems shared.

I will try to post websites and links to social media accounts that are posting daily prompts along with my own. I will try to post more prompts than usual but won’t put out a new prompt every day. Here is yesterday’s prompt from NapoWriMo.net:

The last couple of years I haven’t finished the challenge, although I have done so previously. I just have to remember that the goal is to write 30 poems, not 30 GOOD poems!

Here is your bonus prompt: write a poem about a moment when you felt yourself break through a period of indecision or blockage.

Good luck writing every day! Have fun!

Definitions—Prompts Inspired by Dorianne Laux

I am grateful to Tresha Faye Haefner (and Ella Braden) for sharing this gorgeous poem by Dorianne Laux.

For the first prompt, take a concrete object (as Laux did with wound) and write your own definition for it. Expand upon that definition as if giving multiple uses (as with “wound” as a “flower” and then a “fire” but circle back to connect the two.

The second prompt is a writing exercise: take this poem and change all the nouns (and the verbs in order to make sense). Now take the third sentence you’ve made to use or another one of your choosing (preferably a sentence in which you’ve changed the verbs) as the first line of a new poem. Do change the first line’s and the entire poem’s structure—break that sentence into separate sentences, the poem into couplets or other form. Be sure to credit the poet for your inspiration.

For the third prompt, take the poet’s “what becomes of us once we’ve been torn apart and returned to our future” for a question to answer in a poem or short story.

Write a poem or story using the following list of words from the poem: “descent,” “scent,” “war,” “torches,” “tinder,” “flame,” “hands,” “torn,” “naked” and “scar.” Try to switch the nouns to verbs and vice versa. As an added constraint, let the poem be a love poem or the story a romance.

The last prompt is to use the line “Say goodbye to disaster” as a title for a poem or story.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Write Your Own Legend—Prompts Inspired by Brendan Constantine

As the dumpster fire of 2024 burns on, I find myself craving escapism in both my reading and writing, and this poem by Brendan Constantine is perfect for me (full disclosure: I always love his poems). If you want to listen to him read it and another poem published by The 2River View, here is the link: https://2river.org/2RView/28_3/poems/constantine.html. [I somehow lost the ability to add hyperlinks to text and use other features on my iPad, hence the delay.]

For the first prompt, write your own legend or fairytale about forgiveness. As here, leave the reader with some mystery.

Or, as in so much of fan fiction, take the thief here and write a poem or story to provide his backstory. Be sure to credit the poet for your inspiration.

The third prompt is to take the line “This time she did as she was told” as a ghostline to begin a new story. Don’t try to finish this story, but create your own, still giving credit to the poet for the starting line. Remember to erase the line, or alternatively, you could keep it as a title, again acknowledging the poet in with an “after Brendan Constantine.”

This next prompt is only an exercise: take this poem and replace the verbs and nouns with those of your own. Now take a line you’ve made in this exercise as the first line for a new poem or story. Be careful that you are not writing too close to the original.

A fourth prompt is to write a fairy tale for “when the world was” not “a forest.” What was the world then? A castle, a broken vase, a high-rise, driftwood, a calculator? Begin there.

The last prompt is to write a love poem or romantic story using the following words: “animal,” “body,” “build,” “storms,” “river,” “hold,” “firelight, “mask,” “touch” and “song.”

Bonus prompt: write about this image as fairytale, bleak warning, however you wish.

Or use this cartoon for inspiration instead.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Reflecting on the Infinite: Prompts Inspired by Mary Ruefle

Today is the start of the new posting schedule—Mondays instead of Sundays (although I often was late). To celebrate my increased potential punctuality, let’s celebrate by starting off with the great Mary Ruefle’s “The Imperial Ambassador of the Infinite,” shared by Simeon Berry (a great poet to follow).

For the first prompt, create a list poem of images that remind you of a particular event. Let readers make the connection.

The second prompt is to use the lines “Except when I run away from home / by hiding under the bed” as a ghostline for a poem or the catalyst for a short story. Remember to erase the lines and credit the poet for your inspiration.

For the third, write a story or poem using the following words: “garden,” “shaded,” “held,” “smashed,” “street,” “loosed,” “mirror,” “drenched,” message,” “stoned” and “forever.”

A final prompt is to create a poem from images of broken objects interspersed with mentions of time and/or the infinite.

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

Good luck writing! Have fun!

On the Boat—Prompts Inspired by Daniel McGinn

As you’ve noticed, I once again did not post a prompt on Sunday. I think it will be easier for me to post on Monday as Sundays are getting busier for now.

From poems about love to those about death, we are covering all the bases here! I’ve been meaning to post this wonderful poem by Daniel McGinn for a while. I love that it works both as an ekphrastic of the tarot card and as a persona poem of Charon from Greek mythology.

The first prompt is to draw a card from a tarot card deck and flip it over. Write a poem or story that incorporates the card’s imagery and symbolism but also incorporates a well-know character or story from mythology, literature or pop culture. If you prefer, you could combine the card with a current event.

For the second prompt, write about a place in which you “are almost there” / “were always there” in your memory or your dreams. This place can be a house that you lived in as a child, the pervasive forgot-you-had-an-assignment/test school dream, or a recurring dream of a place you have only imagined. What place do you always return?

The third prompt is to use the line “while my back is turned away” as a ghostline for a narrative poem or short story. Tell us what happens next.

For another prompt, build a poem or short story from the following word list: “map,” “need,” “carry,” “just,” “hangs,” “net,” “breath,” “back,” “iron” and “shore.” Try to switch nouns to verbs and vice versa.

The final prompt (pun intended) is to describe the “other shore” and create your own afterlife. What will you find when you reach the shore? Buildings, plants and welcoming loved ones? Dust and wind and a distant wailing? Or perhaps you would prefer to give vague hints from glimpses your narrator takes on the journey across.

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story with the photo above as your setting.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Love Poems—Prompts Inspired by Paige Lewis

Love is such a powerful emotion but so difficult to convey uniquely. Love poems, their language and imagery, often are clichéd and stale especially if abstract and general. Rather than grand proclamations, small personal details often are more effective in showing the passion or caring in a relationship, as demonstrated so beautifully by Paige Lewis here. Btw, you can hear the poem read their poem on the site of the American Academy of Poets if you wish.

For the first prompt, write about a game or joke shared between you and a partner or between two characters. Use everyday language and description rather than metaphors or dramatic language. Avoid using the word “love” directly.

The second prompt is to write a story or poem using the following words: “paints,” “ties,” “corners,” “shadow,” “machine,” “game,” “stretch,” “bed,” “grips” and “kisses.” Try to switch the nouns for verbs and vice versa.

The third prompt does not need to create a love poem or story; just use the line “Our shadows get dirty just like anyone’s, so we take them” as a ghostline. See where it takes you. Remember to erase the line and credit the poet for the inspiration.

The last prompt is to use the line “and watch our shadows warm” for a horror-themed poem or story. Again remember to erase the ghostline and credit the poet.

Bonus prompt: write a poem based on this image.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

To the End of Triumph—Prompts Inspired by Jack Gilbert

Jack Gilbert’s poem was shared in a thread of poems with unforgettable lines, as it should be, although it is impossible for me to pick just one line to share.

For the first prompt, do better than I and pick one line that resonates the most with you for a ghostline. Remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

The second prompt is to write a poem or story about the moment before the hero’s fall, the ship’s sinking, the last kiss given without any regret or hesitation. You can choose familiar tale or event to describe or create a new one of your own, letting the sweetness last to the very end line or perhaps foreshadowed in the title or opening.

The next prompt is to write a list of failures, small ones that build up to the final breaking but end on a moment of joy.

For the next prompt, write a love poem using the following words: “summer,” “island,” “burning,” “bed,” “nights,” “gentleness,” “mist,” “swimming,” “light” and “coming.”

Bonus prompt: write to the moon in this cold sky and include the sound of waves breaking on the rocks.

Good luck! Have fun!

Moonlit Journeys—Prompts Inspired by Kareem Tayyar

Since I didn’t go for that walk today, let’s be inspired by the lovely imagery of Kareem Tayyar’s poem “Midnight Rambler.” I especially love the lines: “Everywhere the waters whispered themselves / back into the dream of a single river.” Even the sound of the lines is a soft rushing.

If you’d like to read more from Kareem Tayyar, check out his substack.

For the first prompt, write a poem or short story about your own nighttime journey, moving from the tangible to the surreal.

I of course cannot resist using line “the poems the ghosts had written” for a ghostline prompt. Make sure to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

The next prompt is to write a poem using the following words from “Midnight Rambler”: “bloom,” “companion,” “waters,” “single,” “silhouettes,” “bodies,” “pillow,” “illuminated,” “walls” and “arrival.”

For the last prompt, write an apology to a former self you’ve tried to leave.

Bonus prompt: create your own myth or superstition about a ring around the moon.

Good luck! Have fun!

A Bright New Day Every Day—Prompts Inspired by Linda Pastan

So I got distracted with the holidays and spending time with family—all good, but again I am behind on posting. Ah, good intentions and road pavement…

But tonight I saw this Linda Pastan poem and Sean Dineen’ response and loved both. Instead of living each day as if it were the last—and likely my desperate attempts to apologize and correct mistakes—I would prefer to experience each day as a first filled “raw astonishment” and no regrets.

For the first prompt, try to create a poem that mirrors that “raw astonishment” in the poem. Start by making a list of historical firsts and weaving one or more of them into your own daily routine, treating each task as if it were the first.

The second prompt is to write a short story or piece of flash fiction in which you describe the first day of sentience for a character or creature.

The third prompt uses the first line, “You tell me to live each day,” as a jumping off point. Avoid using either the standard “as if it were your last” or the poem’s later recommended “as if it were the first” as the impetus. Instead, write about what someone told you or what you wish they had. Because the former is such a common phrase and your goal is to take a different direction than that of the poem, you likely will not need to credit the poet as you would for a regular ghostline.

The last prompt is to write a poem using the following words from the poem: “day,” “race,” “minutes,” “first,” “raw,” “ingénue,” “morning,” “roar,” “clear” and “surface.” If possible, try to write a hopeful poem (this is definitely a challenge for me).

Bonus prompts: write an ekphrastic poem using this photo, or write a surreal poem or short story about this flower hatching as an egg and describing what emerges.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Mermaids and Monsters—Prompts Inspired by Sirianna Helleloid

I love the visceral imagery and rhythm of Sirianna Helleloid’s “Ariel Ignores the Great Master’s Bidding.” This poem has such great wordplay and use of slant rhyme and alliteration that it begs repeated readings.

The first prompt is to choose a mythical creature, fairytale character or a Disney princess and retell the story for modern times, giving your speaker an unlikely profession. Describe a banshee who works as an actuary, the Big Bad Wolf as a venture capitalist or perhaps Sleepy Beauty as a barista. Sometimes making a list of five fairytale characters and a separate list of five professions can be helpful in getting started if you are stuck.

For a second prompt, use the poem’s first line “I crawl my way out of the ocean, grinning. New feet” as a ghostline. Or, begin with the last line “It’s a long swim to the horizon” to jumpstart a story or poem. Remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

The third prompt is to write a poem or story from the sisters’ point of view as a response poem. How do they feel about her leaving them for land? How does the story end for them? Don’t forget to reference the original poem and author in your title or as in “after” statement. Do be careful to make this your own telling.

For another prompt, write a poem or story using the following list of words in an urban setting: “blow,” “knees,” “shanties,” “circle,” “bank,” “foam,” “cruise,” “hungers,” “graffiti,” “mirror,” “walls,” “cash” and “horizon.” Where possible, try to switch nouns to verbs and verbs to nouns.

Bonus prompt: write an ekphrastic poem using either of the watercolors by Xiao Faria da Cunha, which accompanied the three poems by Sirianna Helleloid.

Bonus bonus prompt: write a poem or short story from the sand mermaid I made years ago at Newport Beach.

What is she reaching for?

And what does it mean that even the wind will erase her? How temporary is our own existence as the waters rise?

Well, on that last cheerful note, good luck writing! Have fun!

Gentleness—Prompts Inspired by Heather Swan

Short post despite the delay—I am having difficulty concentrating on anything but my mom’s upcoming surgery. Every day is a stone to carry.

Btw, Joseph Fasano is a great person to follow on Twitter (while it lasts) for his lovely poetry threads.

For the first prompt, write a description of a scene from nature, or perhaps an intimate moment in your home, to build up to the point you want to leave the reader with.

The second prompt is to use the following word list to create a love poem that never uses the word “love”: “bend,” “spine,” “rests,” “leaves,” “floats,” “sways,” “upright,” “opening,” “burden” and “breaking.”

The last prompt is to use the lines “If it could always / be like this” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the lines and credit the poet for your inspiration.

Good luck writing!

Mother’s Day—Prompts Inspired by Diane Seuss

Happy Mother’s Day if you celebrate it. If not, there’s always Mothra.

I love how unsentimental this Diane Seuss poem is, all without losing tenderness, and the opening lines are so, so good.

For the first prompt, make a list of all the places in which you had called out for your mother or wished for safety and see where that takes you, in either a story or poem.

The second prompt is to find a way to incorporate diarrhea or other messy biological function within a serious poem because I was so amazed by Chen Chen incorporating shitting into a love poem. And this poem certainly does that, and also so effectively connects a cesarean with peeling peaches.

For a third prompt, use the last line “Do you see how I persist in telling you about the flowers when I mean to describe the rain” for a ghostline. Remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

This last prompt is to write a poem or story using the following words: “pool,” “knife,” “flesh,” “caves,” “ground,” “underbelly,” “train,” “layer,” “solitude,” “dresses” and “rain.” Try to use the nouns as verbs and vice versa.

Bonus prompt: Write a “Happy Mothra Day” poem.

Good luck! Have fun writing!