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!

What Is a Sonnet or a Poem?—Prompts Inspired by Diane Seuss and Gatekeeping Trolls

Sorry for the delay but a busy week and a head full of fluff. So this post is in response to Twitter drama in which a poet who has elected herself gatekeeper for what is a sonnet or a poem directly attacked Diane Seuss for attention. I doubt I could respond as gracefully and as kindly as Diane Seuss did. Btw, her critic is also the same poet who proclaims erasures and centos are not poems, so while this poet is someone to ignore, asking what makes a poem a poem or a sonnet a sonnet is a good exercise for poets.

While the individual answers differ among poets and readers, most people know what a poem is even if they do not have specific criteria—perhaps it is density of language, rhythm (even if rhyme and meter aren’t needed for most people now) or simply a sense of awe or wonder from reading it. For me, adherence to a form or to accepted conventions is less important than the sense of wonder or surprise created in the reading or hearing of it. There are some poems that are fit all the requirements but are forgettable and others that push the boundaries in such a way that I don’t care if it is technically prose or poetry, I am lost in the world it created. What are your requirements or characteristics a piece of writing must have before you consider it a poem? Do you use the requirements/ingredients when you edit?

Some people have stricter requirements for a sonnet—must be fourteen lines in iambic pentameter in the Shakespearean or Italian/Petrarchan form. Contemporary poets such as Seuss and Terrence Hayes have moved the sonnet into new directs. Other poets, such as Donna Hilbert, have poems that feel like sonnets to me even though they do not consider them as such.

Note that the poem above has fourteen lines but certainly doesn’t follow the classical form. For many modern writers, the key requirement is the volta, or turn, in the poem. For me, there is such a turn in the poem where the narrator says, “what’s to be sad about” and then explains the reasons for sadness. I think on a quick, careless read, this poem could seem stream of consciousness without much craft (as described by another sour-ass gatekeeper), but the language is deliberate, with a thread running throughout and repetition carefully used. I have to admit I am biased though: reading Diane Seuss and getting to hear her read aloud brings me joy. I heartily recommend Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl and frank: sonnets and plan to read her earlier collections.

For the first prompt, decide is required for a sonnet and write your own. Decide if you want to go full Petrarchan or modernize the form for yourself.

The second prompt is to write a poem to illustrating what “done for good” means to you.

The third prompt is to write about a “sad day / though not a tragic day.” Let the poem or story build from minor or not-so-minor inconveniences to what underlies most sorrow for you (or humanity in general) but overall keeping the specifics in.

The last prompt is to write a story or poem (a lament?) from the perspective of the taxidermied bear.

Bonus prompt: write about the real Elvis joining this group or what makes Elvis real as an archetype.

And just because I like this photo and the memory of that day with Don and my parents, here is a picture of a canal.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Duly Noted—Prompts Inspired by Kristina Mahr

Because I often get stuck in my head, in the same cycle, subject matter, style or just the same poem in slight variations, I need a new form or process. I particularly love poems that incorporate the language or framework of another field or medium. Footnote poems particularly interest me, although my own attempts are messy and incomplete. Let’s turn to Kristina Mahr’s “Footnotes” for some direction.

Let’s follow Mahr’s process for the first prompt. Write a simple (seemingly uncontroversial) statement and then explain and justify your statement (and the previous footnote) as footnotes. See where this process takes you. You will need to credit the poet.

The second prompt is to take a statement about your life or a value judgment about yourself (e.g. I was a good mother) and argue for or against that statement in the footnotes. What is “good” in this context? My daughter and I discussed how different our criteria are for what makes someone a “good” driver: safety of course but safety through caution or through quick reflexes and handling of the car?

For the last prompt, write a love poem or breakup poem and use footnotes to attempt to define every abstract emotion with a concrete image.

Bonus prompt: write a short story or poem in which this house is the setting of a fairytale or myth.

Have fun! Good luck!

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!

In the Meantime—Prompts Inspired by Li-Young Lee

All the world loves a love poem and such poems are needed, but, oh, they can be so difficult to write. Let’s turn to Li-Young Lee’s wonderful “To Hold” for inspiration. Thank you, James Crews, for sharing!

For the first prompt, make a list of six tasks you share (or shared) with a lover. Choose the one that resonates most with you and write a set of instructions for that task. Try to include precise details, including movements and sensory description. From that description build a poem or short story.

The second prompt is to write a poem making connections between “mean” (the mathematical definition, a measurement or midpoint; intend; define or demonstrate; humble; or other definitions) and signifiers of time through words in the poem such as “meantime, “one day,” “until,” “then,” “moment” or others and through shifting between verb tenses. See what happens.

The next prompt is a writing exercise. Replace all the nouns and verbs with your own. Now take your fourth and fifth lines from the bottom as your first lines and go from there.

For the last prompt, use the first line, “So we’re dust. In the meantime, my wife [husband, lover, partner, etc]” as a ghostline. Complete the sentence and go from there. Remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

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!

The More of It All—New Year’s Resolution Prompts Inspired by Lia Purpura

Lia Purpura’s “Resolution” hits hard for me. Too often I have held back, thought I should not put myself forward, let fear prevent me from trying something new, denied myself a pleasure to balance a regret only to make more of both. I love how she hears “more” in “morning” and makes music from regrets and reprimands.

I enjoyed her reflection on the poem: “The way whole words and sounds nest in other words and sounds kept the surprises coming. By just recognizing kinned sounds, the poem spoke itself into being in a way that felt independent of my making.” Click here to access the Academy of American Poets website, where you can listen to her read the poem (and also where the quote is published).

The coming year will be a rough one—already our little boats are bobbing wildly on a rising sea of war, genocide, fascism, natural disasters and uncertainty. We know all that we should do but won’t and all that we shouldn’t do but will, so let’s do what we must to moor ourselves to the day.

Let’s have that piece of cake before dinner, before our vegetables even. Yes, we will eat them too, but we can start out with the cake to make sure there’s room. Let’s binge on a comic book or romance or poetry chapbook—whatever will provide a happy escape from bills and the news. We will be good as we can and enjoy the day while we can. Let’s have more.

For the first prompt, use the poem’s first line, “There’s the thing I shouldn’t do” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

The second prompt is to write a poem interchanging the words present as in gift with present and present as in now.

The next prompt is to come up with your own nested words to build a poem or a story around. Think of how end is held within friend, that the spelling of a part and apart is the opposite of their meaning, how contradictory sanguine is—both optimistic and bloodthirsty—that words and phrases can have opposite meanings (see this list of contronyms for more examples), or a small word like go can contain so many meanings.

For the last prompt, make a list of necessary tasks and a second list of rewards to give yourself. Burn the first list and write a list poem or short story with the second. Enjoy the smoke.

Bonus prompt: write about this reward (it was delicious) or your favorite dessert.

Write what you want. 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!

Wonderful Experience with Twin Bird Review

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

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

Have a great night!

Grief and Choices—Prompts Inspired by Layli Long Soldier

As always, Chen Chen shares amazing poems, and Layli Long Soldier is a wonderful poet, whom I need to read more of.

The first prompt involves two parts. The first is a Mad Libs writing exercise in which you keep the format of the original (including the shape and the spacing), substitute “grief” with another emotion (try for a positive emotion first) and replace all the verbs with your own. Next replace the “we” to another pronoun (“I” or “you”). For the second part, remove the last lines from the original (“into light as ash / across our faces”) and rearrange what you’ve written into stanzas (couplets, quatrains or whichever feels the most natural to you). Provide your own ending. See what happens.

The next prompt is to write your own poem using ten of the verbs from this poem. For a constraint, use nature imagery.

The third prompt is a like a Choose Your Own Adventure. For each line, choose one of the options (e.g. “As we / (embrace) / the (past) / we (begin) / to (accept) / the grief / we (shift) / into light as ash / across our faces”) and make this a ghostline. Remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

Bonus prompt: What emotion or event has carved your own path (or that of a character’s in planning a short story or longer piece of fiction).

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Because—Prompts Inspired by Beth Marquez

I love this poem by Beth Marquez, published by Mulberry Literary, builds upon itself to that breathtaking ending and allows readers to make their own connections between the images and reasons.

For the first prompt, make a list of causes without stating the effects or clarifying their connections, using “Because” as an anaphora.

As a supplement to this prompt, change “Because” to another conjunction for the anaphora. What happens when you use “but” or “when” or “if”?

Your second prompt is to use “Because the footsteps in the hall / are approaching” as a ghostline for a poem or short story. Or choose another statement from the poem for an ghostline. After using it as a jumping off point, remember to erase the line and give credit to the poet.

The third prompt is to write a poem or story using the following word list: “flush,” “steep,” “shine,” “leaves,” “locks,” “lace,” “clasp,” “bloom,” “mouth” and “fall.” Try to switch up the parts of speech (nouns for verbs and vise versa). Bonus points if you can use “oubliette” and “shawl” in your piece.

And the last prompt is simply a writing exercise. Mad Lib the poem, changing all the nouns and adjectives. If you like a particular line (or entire because-statement), use that for your first line.

Good luck! Have fun!

Gratitude—Prompts Inspired by W. S. Merwin

I am awed by this praise poem by W. S. Merwin. I have not learned to adapt to the tragedies, the injustices and sorrows of life and certainly cannot feel gratitude for them. Perhaps it is enough to feel grateful for the small kindnesses, to smile at strangers on the street and at doors, to wave at a car that lets me in onto a busy road, to thank people during our brief interactions, and to mean it when I say, “Have a good day.” Or perhaps these small courtesies simply allow us to sink deeper with a smile.

For the first prompt, make your own praise poem of resentments, fears regrets and tragedies, thanking each one. Remember to give credit to the poet for your inspiration.

The next prompt is to take one tragedy or hurt in your life and see it through the perspective of gratitude. As much pain as the stillbirth caused me, my daughter would not been conceived if her brother could have lived. I cannot imagine my life without her in it.

A third prompt is to use the line “with the animals dying around us” as a ghostline. See where it takes you. Remember to erase the line and credit the poet.

For a final prompt, create a list poem with the last word or phrases repeated. Don’t use “thank you” though; use an endearment, a curse or a phrase you commonly use.

Bonus prompt: write a story or poem in which the photo above is the setting. Choose whatever time period seems appropriate, although this is a photo I took this week of an old barn on the gravel lane to my parents’ house. What does it say about time when a modern photo could seem decades old? Why does black-and-white still convey the past, as if time is a bleaching or fading of events?

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Tense Times, Voice and the Partings of Speech—Editing Prompts

I’ve been thinking about the power of language to divide and categorize: the euphemisms used in war and violence by those with power; how passive voice hides the perpetrator of a shooting or a bombing; how one group of people are agents of their actions, but others recipients, innocent of deed.

What voice do you use in your poems; in spite of the constant reminder to use strong, active verbs does the passive slip in? Is there a poem or story in which your speaker denies agency? Would passive voice demonstrate that stance? As always, who is your speaker/narrator, some version of you, or another persona entirely? Some critics denigrate the use of “I” in a poem or story, but I distrust anyone who believes they can be fully objective in their own life or perform as some omniscient observer neutrally accounting an event even if I enjoy the stories written in third person.

For the first editing prompt, take an unfinished or discarded poem or short story and adjust the voice of the speaker/narrator—changing syntax and tone—to one different from the original or from your own habitual style. In Eric Morago’s workshop series, we are often asked to write in another poet’s style. Focusing on someone else’s voice taught me much about my own and offered more directions for me to move within my writing.

Even verb tense can illustrate as much as it obscures.

I am unsure how helpful such focus is in the initial draft of a poem or story, but I think such considerations are necessary in the revision and in developing as a writer.

For the next prompt, again choose a poem or a short story that feels unfinished to you, and (making a copy of that document) change the verb tense—yes, I know past tense is traditional for prose. What happens to the pacing? What other changes do you need to make for it all to fit? Does a story or narrative told in first person feel as “factual” or “recorded” in the present tense? Can the reader—or will a reader other than you—feel the weight of prior events influencing the present moment you describe?

Again, this is just for experiment, so you will probably change the tense back to your original, but it may offer insights in revising rough areas or lines/sections that don’t fit together.

Let’s move from tense to parts of speech. Since reading Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red I cannot stop thinking about this particular section:

To me, adjectives also are a way of further dividing and separating into categories. Sometimes the particulars are needed to express your meaning, setting a scene or creating an imagistic poem. While writers are often told to avoid adverbs and focus on active verbs, adjectives can build up.

For the next exercise, take a poem or story, and strip it of all of its adjectives. What happens? Do you need more nouns? Does the piece become too stark, empty or even vague? Add back an adjective one at a time but pause to consider how each one allocates the place a character/speaker or object within the described moment or place. What positions are you assigning to your subjects (objects)?

I hope these exercises will be helpful.

Bonus prompt: write a brief description of this photo of Cleveland Clinic

Now reconsider that description or combine it into a poem or the setting of a story after seeing the black and white photo of the same building (and different angle/location). What draws your eye?

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Homebound—Prompts Inspired by Kelly Grace Thomas

California is having its first tropical storm hit landfall in decades as I am leaving it for a coast barraged with hurricanes, and with the current warmth of its waters, likely to be a hard September of storms. Changing desert and irrigated lushness for bayous and canals and flood zones. I am hoping for home, one closer to family though farther from the friends I’ve made into a second family. By my side will be a partner without whom I would slip into pale emptiness, both a drowning and a desiccation by degrees. I am a woman who finally found shelter even from the storms of my own spinning, the disasters I’ve made of the life given me and taken from me, a haven for all my days.

For the first prompt, describe yourself or your family as a building or structure. Are you/your family made of stone or sticks, glass or cast iron? Is the roof secure, the walls thick? Is there a door? Do you want there to be one that you could walk outside yourself and leave?

The second prompt is to start the first line (or your title) as “I raised myself to believe” but describe how you’ve cut yourself or your possibilities down. Be sure to credit the poet for your inspiration.

For the third, write a poem on what you wish you could talk about with your family. What can you not say until you leave or they are gone?

Your last prompt is for a writing exercise: Mad Lib this poem, replacing nouns and adjectives with your own. The structure will likely be too close to the original to publish, but it can spark your writing in a new direction. If possible, take one of the lines you recreated and use that for either your first line or last line.

Bonus prompt: write an ekphrastic poem or short story under the theme of shelter. How well would you/your protagonist survive here?

Good luck writing!

Waiting—Prompts Inspired by Nomi Stone

So much of healthcare and the act of caring involves waiting and holding—for an appointment, for results, for a cure, for someone to come back to you in their own time or to hold on and wait just one more day to leave.

At such transitional moments, time oozes along the spinal column, dragging its shambling mass and tentacles across the back and chest until we bend under the weight. Waiting is hard on all who love, but we have our clocks and calendars for compass, while other creatures have their own internal guidance systems. I hope you enjoy Nomi Stone’s “Waiting for Happiness” as much as I did, particularly its opening lines.

The first prompt is to begin and end with the perspective of another creature, a pet or a wild creature, with the narrator echoing the action or emotion in the middle section.

For the second prompt, create a list poem of signs that you (or the narrator) is missing someone. What do you do when the longing hits and you have no choice but to wait?

The third prompt is to use “Here we are in our bodies, ripe as” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line and credit the poet.

Lastly, choose a time—5:00 or midnight or perhaps the moment you are happy—to describe. Is it when you pull into your driveway, the moment you can finally slip off your shoes, the soft meow you hear when you open the door, the thudding of children’s footsteps in the hall, or the feel of your lover’s shoulder next to yours on the couch? Give this time a density, a texture that you can feel in either a poem or as the setting for a story.

Good luck writing and loving. Have fun!

For My Mother—Prompts Inspired by Wanda Coleman

I missed last Sunday’s post. I was in the hospital visiting both my dad and my mom. Both of them are in poor health and there have been scares, but this time it was Mom who had to be brought back. Like with my dad three years ago, it doesn’t feel real that she was almost gone, that the hands that held ice to a bee sting or checked my forehead for fever would still.

I think if she goes, he will soon follow, that the boy and girl who started going steady in the fifth grade, bickered and dated all through middle school and high school, and climbed into the other’s hospital bed for comfort wouldn’t be without the other for long.

I know not everyone has a mother and father who gave them what they needed but thought I understood my good luck: I was wrong.

I cannot describe the last few days as well as this poem by Wanda Coleman. I hope you enjoy this poem too.

For the first prompt, describe the “realm children go” in either a poem or short story.

The next prompt is to use “when it will be the only coin i possess with which to buy peace of mind” as a ghostline. Remember to erase the line and credit the poet.

The last prompt is to write about a parent or loved one, listing all the ways you want to remember them, to tether them to this world.

Bonus prompt: who shines within the lonely nights of your mind as you try to comfort yourself to sleep.

Good luck writing and holding onto your loved ones.

Galloping Night and Returning Grandmothers—Prompts Inspired by Rule Breaking and I.S. Jones

I often find that the rules people spout off about poetry usually are arbitrary and needlessly limiting, so I appreciate the comment by Gabrielle Bates and her sharing this lovely poem. I too enjoy poems about grandmothers and family, and even if I did not, I find being told I cannot do something my strongest motivator.

The first prompt is to take a rule that you’ve heard people state and break it. Write about the moon, the body, death, your first love, a tree, whatever subject you’ve been told to avoid and dive in. Mix a metaphor—deliberately. Use second person. Throw in ellipses or even an exclamation point. Write a love story centered on a hamster—a friend wrote an awesome story after an editor gave this as a topic no one would want to read and even included space travel. It kicked ass! (See, exclamation point).

For the second prompt, write a poem or story about one of your grandmothers (or both) to make Gabrielle Bates happy. Post it on Twitter and tag her if you like.

The second prompt is to begin with a name and use its meaning (or your assumed meaning)—try to choose a name that means a specific object or creature—and for an extended metaphor.

For the third prompt, use the title to set up a scene and take the line “Give me a truth I need to survive” as a ghostline. See where the poem leads you. Make sure to erase the line and give credit to L.S. Jones.

The next prompt is to write of a list poem of all that was “a waste of devotion” for you.

The last prompt is another ghostline: “The story goes: her presence / would remind men of their mortality.” Or you can use it for the first line of a poem or story but make sure you indicate it is a quotation and attribute it to the poet.

Bonus prompt: write an ekphrastic poem using the photo of these sculptures.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Connectives—Prompts Inspired by Vievee Francis and Nadia Alamah

Sorry for the delay—I have been in Mississippi and planning the upcoming move to there from California.

It can be easy to overlook how much we can affect one another. When one trips, the other reaches forward to catch and winces at the fall. My worry creases my husband’s forehead; my insomnia keeps him up at night. This morning the mumbled words that escaped the shouting in my nightmare woke him, so he called my name to wake me. I wish I could express the connection as Vievee Francis does here.

For the first prompt, think of a friend or lover or relative whom you feel a deep connection with and make a list of events/actions of one or yourself and the effects experienced by the other/yourself into a poem or story.

For the second prompt, take that list and choose only one of the shared causes/effects for the heart of the poem or story.

Your third prompt is to write the “secret story” of the first line.

For the next poetry or prose prompt, describe what “once you know, you / can’t unknow” and what you (or a character) did to survive that learning.

Another prompt is to write a poem or story from the following word list: “bow,” “part,” “ravages,” “pull,” “pressure,” “need,” “grip,” “demands,” “present,” “string,” and “quiver.” Try to reverse the forms: verbs to nouns or vise versa.

The next prompts are based on two photos in a series I saw in an art installation.

Here is the artist’s statement:

“Redlining Henna I-IV”

This photographed series depicts an interpretation of redlining via body paint and henna. The two hands depicted here have lines from both district maps of Long Beach, California and Beirut, Lebanon to reflect how two entirely different cities, countries and parts of the world can experience the same discrimination-fueled sociopolitical phenomenon. The process is photographed so that the viewer can “see” the redlining happening, where the borders drawn to create districts become red, and with areas distinguished and excluded from other areas.

The choice for having this piece painted on the hands is inspired by the photos of and the act of receiving henna. Henna is usually given on holidays and weddings in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It was historically a Lebanese tradition for weddings, but with the impact of colonialism and a culturally-imbedded desire to adopt more Western wedding traditions, the tradition of utilizing henna appears to be observed less and less frequently. 

This results in an opportunity to create art that juxtaposes two phenomenons to show their relatability, with the intention to comment on our developing cities and the way in which immigrants can also become subject to redlining. 

Concept, art and model: Nadia the Llama @nadiaathellama   nadiathellama.com

Photography: Kelsey Bryan-Zwick @bindyourownbooks   

Individual Titles 

I: The Lines

II: The Cities 

III: Redlining 

IV: It Never Really Washes Away 

Write an ekphrastic poem from either image, or write a poem or story honoring a family or cultural tradition.

Using the artist’s statement and the images, write a poem or story from the persona of one city or town to another.

The next prompt is to write a story in which the actions of a one town’s residents ripple outward to another region. Try to emphasize echoes and repetition to create a sense of outward flowing.

For another poetry prompt, describe the cities and borders mapped on your body. Who drew those boundaries? What still separates them, or are the lines fading?

The last prompt is to reconcile all the places and selves you have been in a poem or short story or life. Where do you belong? I am still working on that even as I move once again.

Good luck, and please wish me the same!

Magic Boxes, Gifts, and Borrowed Prompts—Prompts Inspired by Kit Wright

Annelyse Gelman—a wonderful poet—started a thread of writing prompts for students, and Joanna Monk offered a lovely one, inspired by Kit Wright. This is a fun prompt for anyone, especially if you are feeling stuck.

For the first prompt, describe what you would put in your magic box and the box itself.

The second prompt is a variation on the first: for this prompt, describe what you would lock away in a box and how you would secure it. What are you afraid will escape if it opens, and/or who will be harmed?

The next prompt is to write a poem about yourself as a box and what you hold in a prose poem so that form embodies the content.

The last prompt is to write a story about finding a locked door—or box—in the basement of an old house you are renting. What happens next?

Have fun writing! Good luck!