A Bed for Spring—Prompts Inspired by Marion McCready

Well, this week did not goes as planned, so I did not post extra prompts as intended. I did have a chance to read some excellent poems though. “Iceland Poppies” is a gorgeous poem, weaving imagery and references to religion and death so beautifully. You can read other poems by Marion McCready in her book Madame Ecosse.

For the first prompt, reimagine the opening lines “I’ve been growing them in my garden / for some time now” as growing rows of tombstones or guns, perhaps from bullet seeds, rather than flowers. Or maybe you would rather write about something less deadly, a garden of sparklers or sea anemone or lollipops.

The second prompt is a writing exercise. Take penultimate stanza and Mad Libs swap out the nouns with your own. Once you have rewritten the stanza with your own nouns, use that as the opening of a narrative poem or story. See what happens. Treat the opening lines as a ghostline though, erasing them after you’ve finished.

For the third prompt, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “glories,” “pulsing,” “catches,” “stained,” “papery,” “roof,” “biting,” “green,” “window” and “dissolve.”

The last prompt is to make a list of five poisonous plants or deadly household items and five specific locations. See what combinations strike your interest and look up some facts about growing conditions or storage requirements for the poison and its historical use. Try not to have too much fun with the research part that you don’t write a poem or story, but wait a day or two before writing the poem. Let the information percolate through your daily routine.

Bonus prompt: write about a conversation among flowers.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Hide Easter Eggs with Todd Dillard—Prompts

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates. May your chocolate bunny not melt, all actual eggs found, and your basket be full of goodies.

If you are looking more prompts (and great poems), I definitely recommend Todd Dillard. Here is a fuck prompt from him two years ago.

Bonus prompt: Write a poem or story using the gaming metaphor of Easter eggs (hidden messages, images, or references to another game) in your own life or a character’s.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Earth Day—Prompts Inspired by Jane Hirshfield

As you know, climate change is here. It is not too late for us to work together to minimize the harms. Each step we make can save ecosystems, species and the lives of humans, plants and animals. I am grateful I heard Jane Hirshfield read her poetry and discuss her project Poets for Science at AWP. Her poems and the motivation for the project are inspiring. Poetry can seem useless in a world full of loss and daily horrors, but art can build connections, inspire action and allow people a way to grieve and heal. Here is the project’s website if you would like to learn more: https://poetsforscience.org/.

For the first prompt, write a poem or story about denial—perhaps your own or another’s or an entire population’s. Pair it with a historical fact or a description of a creature looking away or in the wrong direction or believing itself safe or hidden—like my cat who hides his head under blankets and is shocked that we can find him.

For the second, describe an entire series of bizarre phenomena or catastrophes either above or behind a person or group of people that they have not yet noticed. End the poem or story before they do recognize the danger.

The third prompt is to write a poem that borrows the structure of “Let Them Not Say”: use anaphora (a repeated word or phrase that begins each line but with a contradicting statement or a justification for multiple stanzas; then abruptly switch to an image in the penultimate stanza and end with a stanza that connects the image to the previous rebuttals. If the structure follows the original too closely, then you will need to consider this a writing exercise. Exercises can be great ways to build up a repository of lines available for other poems or stories.

For the next prompt, use “Let them not say” as your first line, remembering as with all ghostlines to erase the line after you’ve written the poem and credit the poet for your inspiration either in your title or with “after Jane Hirshfield” under the title.

The last prompt is to write a poem or story using this list of words gathered from both poems: “ship,” “comprehended,” “heard”“trembled,” “spoken,” “voices,” “must,” “kerosene,” “warmed” and “praised.”

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story based on the image above.

I find it helpful to remember that fire can be both destructive and beneficial—some plants require fire for its seeds to germinate—and that change is here but we can work to preserve species and ecosystems and celebrate what remains.

Good luck. I hope you are enjoying April’s 30/30 challenge.

Relentlessly—Prompts Inspired by Kaveh Akbar

Well, last week did not go as planned, so I did not post extra prompts as promised. Perhaps this lovely poem by Kaveh Akbar will help make up for my lapse.

For the first prompt, make a list of what you don’t know—not necessarily about science, any subject or field will do, but try to be as specific as possible. Next make a list of favorite animal or plant facts. Compare the two lists and see what happens.

The second prompt is to create a metaphor for language—or its failure or absence—and build a story or poem around it.

The next is to create or pull from mythology a creature “that loves itself as relentlessly / as even the most miserable man” and build a story or poem around it.

For the last, write a poem or story using the following word list: “candle,” “certain,” “spare,” “lamplight,” “beast,” “seawater,” “doubt,” “bowing,” “lips” and “sleep.”

Bonus prompt: write a story or poem about whatever this photo inspires, perhaps a creature or an organ or an alien fruit.

Good luck with 30/30! Have fun!

Doors—Prompt from River Heron Review and Bonus Prompts

The journal River Heron Review is providing prompts every day for April. You can go to the website and check out each day’s prompt or sign up for the prompt to be emailed to you, https://www.riverheronreview.com/prompt-a-day-2025.

This is a great writing exercise whether or not you create a poem or short story with it.

Rather than a childhood door, imagine what these doors close off or open to and where they could lead for your poem’s speaker or a character.

Bonus prompt: Some doors remain in spite of time and suffering.

Bonus prompt: Some doors cause suffering or perhaps prevent it. What is imprisoned behind this door and would you free them/it?

Bonus prompt: Some doors themselves are art and feel open even when closed.

Bonus prompt: Some doors are full of air and light, and the doors provide not barrier to anyone.

Bonus prompt: Some doors lead to flaking stone below a spiraling staircase and the unseen door to a tower. Where will you go first?

Bonus prompt: Which door do you or will your character choose (which twin from The Shining stands behind it)?

Bonus prompt: Some doors lead to a sliding closet door, for storage, for skeletons, for self. What do you hide behind a door?

Bonus prompt: Some doors open for everyone.

Bonus prompt: Some doors lead to a Memorial Hall privately owned and lived and locked.

Have fun opening a door to writing a new or remembered world! Good luck!

Patchwork!—Prompt from Jennifer Jean

This writing prompt works well as an editing exercise too.

Bonus prompt: Describe yourself as patchwork (from fabric or flesh or moments in time) or center a story around such a character. Or write about this friendly dog pictured below.

Have fun writing! Good luck!

Performers Need an Audience—A Borrowed Prompt

I think this may be the perfect prompt for poets, or maybe perfect for just me.

For the first prompt, write a poem or story from the perspective of this sunfish once the “audience” returned. Here is the article’s link if you want more details: https://apnews.com/article/japan-ailing-sunfish-aquarium-e7a445c162bfe3ce0d95685d277ff812.

The next prompt is to write a poem addressing your (imagined?) audience when you write, or describe your poem’s desired audience.

Bonus prompt: what did you say to get this reaction from these two fish?

And an additional bonus (bonus bonus) prompt: write whatever comes to mind when looking at these swirling fish.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Interior/Exterior and First/Last—Prompts from Poets & Writers

I hope you all are busy writing. I am behind even on my plan to edit. Things happen. Just so you know, Poets & Writers shares poetry prompts on Tuesdays, fiction prompts on Wednesday and creative nonfiction prompts on Thursday: https://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises.

I like this poem prompt as a practice in creating description and resonance without relying on exposition. Of course this prompt would work for short fiction too.

Below is a fiction prompt from Poets & Writers but could be modified for poetry. For poetry, begin a poem with a loved one’s first words or the last words you heard. If you prefer, you could build the poem to those first or last words. I often have difficulty maintaining a freshness when building a poem to an ending, and poems often move in unexpected directions.

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story about these internal artist spaces seen from outside a museum and what art is created within.

Good luck! Have fun writing!

Persistence in Failure to Success—Prompts Inspired by Elaine Ewart

Perhaps Elaine Ewart’s “Take the collared dove” best embodies the April 30/30 challenge for me: just persist. Writing every day this month will not lead to thirty poems that I can publish or perhaps even three poems that I can edit to something I am excited aobut, but instead this process will be thirty starts, thirty attempts, thirty practice sessions in which I made myself write and kept writing.

Notice that I omitted “leads” or its synonym in the blog post title since success reminds me too much of the South Park Underpants Gnomes profit meme. How I get to “success” or what success even is changes daily and may involve a Venn diagram, the map to a corn maze, a stranger’s blessing or a larger cup of coffee.

If you would like to visit Atrium for her poem, click on this link: https://atriumpoetry.com/2025/03/14/take-the-collared-dove-elaine-ewart/. Do check out more poems on the journal’s website; I really enjoyed what I found there. You can also find more of the poet’s writing on her blog: http://flightfeather.wordpress.com/.

For the first prompt, follow a similar structure (perhaps even a modified sonnet) with a kind of adage illustrated by some animal’s behavior or a specific example in the news or research and ending the poem with your current life.

The second prompt is to simply describe animal behavior—nesting or delivering its young or caring for them. Let your own experiences as parent or child color the description without overt comparisons.

The third is to write use the line “All they do is persist” as the first line of a poem or short story, remembering to credit the poet even if you later erase the line.

For the next, write a poem or story about “clumsy angels.”

For the last prompt, write a poem or short story using the following word list from the poem: “success,” “collared,” “twigs,” “shell,” “bracket,” “throng,” “clatter,” “hinge,” “unmade” and “carry.”

For a bonus prompt, write an epistolary (letter) poem addressed to this mother whose nest was provided for her. What could society provide for you or parent? If you would like sample poems, check out https://poets.org/glossary/epistolary-poem.

Good luck writing! Remember that the April challenge can be to create the practice of writing every day or to write more frequently. Just persist in trying to write more, and you will succeed (this of course is reminder to myself).

I hope you enjoy the process!

National Poetry Month Starts Tomorrow—Prompts from the NaPoWriMo

Tomorrow begins National Poetry Month with the writing challenge of thirty poems in thirty days. While it is probably easier to write one poem a day, I am never that organized and end up trying to write five or six the last days to catch up. I cheat a bit too; I count revising a poem as my one for the day if it is a significant revision.

Last year I posted a prompt every day for April. I won’t be able to do that this year but plan to post two a week, if not more. I will also share others’ prompts and links to find more. A good place to start is the NaPoWriMo website, https://www.napowrimo.net/, which posts prompts every day this month and includes previous years prompts as well as hosting links to other websites. Below is a screenshot of today’s prompt; you will want to go to the website for its links to sample poems. Please go to the site; it has so many great prompts (Notice all the links on the right side)!

Here is a bonus prompt: write a poem or story based on this portrait by the famous Venezuelan artist Francisco Itriago. To see more of his gorgeous art, here is a link to his Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/francisco.itriago/. If you wish to see a beautiful video he shared but could not post, please let me know in the comments.

Good luck! Have fun!

“Signs”—Prompts Inspired by Pile of Garbage

I am out of town attending a writing conference, so this will be just a short post. I will have more poems and prompts to share though! The panels and readings have been inspiring.

For your first prompt, choose any one of these signs, or a combination of them, including even the chart itself if you like, and write an ekphrastic poem.

For the next prompt, write a story or poem about what event(s) inspired the sign or place your speaker or characters in the situation presented by the sign.

For the last prompt, write a poem in which one these warnings serves as a refrain.

Bonus sign!

Good luck! Have fun writing!

What’s Left—Prompts Inspired by Joseph Fasano

I heard a poet say that every poem is a love poem. I of course cannot remember who said that or when or even if I read it rather than heard the statement. Instead, I hear just the words themselves, without context or reference, in my own voice that I hear in my head when I read or am writing or editing, a voice that is nothing like the one I speak in.

This is a beautiful poem, fitting for the events happening now and what is rushing toward us, even those of us who have always before been the witnesses or who chose to turn away.

For the first prompt, write a story or poem using the line “And then, very softly, as the bootsteps came,” as your starting point. Whether you erase the line or keep it (italicized or quoted), remember to credit the poet.

The next prompt is to is to write a poem or story using the following list of words from the poem: “child,” “cellar,” “sky,” “falling,” “scrap,” “lifting,” “lips,” “rain,” “trees” and “joy.”

Last, write a love poem or story for the end times, for what love remains as long as you are here to carry it.

Good luck. Find some joy—make it—and share it.

Float—Prompts Inspired by Perceval Everett

I do appreciate all the new stories and poems I get to enjoy because of people posting their own and others’ on social media sites. I admit I do way too much doomscrolling, but the poems and stories people share are why I stay. The first stanza of this sonnet, that echo and inversion of the eight line in its last, and the imagery of “a bizarre fried blood-egg, the yolk of it” is worth the bad news and worse replies.

For the first prompt, write a poem or story, beginning with something you planted or built and including a shift, even if you prefer not to write a sonnet.

The second is to write a list poem of what “want[s] to float.”

For the third prompt, use the line “You take your chances when you praise” as a ghostline, the starting point for either a story or poem. Remember to erase the line and and credit the poet for your inspiration.

The last prompt is to write a story or poem using the following word list: “rose,” “supports,” “soil,” “fence,” “tough,” “chances,” “trench,” “float,” “dead,” “open.” Try to change the word’s part of speech, switch nouns to verbs and vice versa.

Bonus prompt: write whatever comes to mind from this photo of a yolk.

I will be at AWP this year and would love to chat about your process if you are there or at one of the offsite events.

Good luck with your writing! Have fun!

“Neuroses and Camaraderie”—Life and Writing Prompts Inspired by Rachel Lauren Myers

OMG, sometimes a poem just hits, and “Alternate Game Plan” by Rachel Lauren Myers certainly did. I need this poem on a t-shirt, as a reply to last month’s credit card bill, as the Ars Poetica I wish I’d written.

Ok, first prompt, write your own ars poetica. Bonus points if you reference clowns, cartoons, and/or cursed objects. For more discussion about the form and some sample poems, check out the American Academy of Poets website, https://poets.org/glossary/ars-poetica.

The second prompt is to write a story or poem based around “Build a hilltop of cursed” or “A temple to mediocrity.”

One of the aspects I love about this poem is its ability to so effectively combine conversational language with literary devices. Notice the repetition of the short “i” sound, especially in the lower third of the poem, and the “s” in “Listen: if this all goes to tits we’ll skip.” By randomly interspersing rhyming words (or slant rhymes) among lines rather than placing at the line’s end and escalating the repetition, the poem keeps building momentum without sacrificing surprise: “shit,” “manuscript,” “lit,” “relit,” “skits,” “it” and “tits” and the repetition of “Let them laugh at us.” For the third prompt, borrow a phrase from a friend and let that be the central message of your poem or story.

The next prompt is to write a poem or story using the following word list: “closing,” “dismount,” “address, “trust,” “cherry,” “asteroid,” “hilltop,” “temple,” “oil,” “hacks” and “laugh.”

For another prompt, write an essay or poem about what your characters have given up.

Write a list poem about what you will do if you someone laughs at your writing.

The last prompt is to base a poem or story on a similar structure: begin by addressing someone else about a shared worry or insecurity, include a description of spilling or dropping something or other clumsy/forgetful moment, and end on an assurance about the original concern.

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story based on the photograph I took in Twin Falls, Idaho.

Good luck writing! Have fun and support each other; times are hard.

Body for Writing—Prompt by Han VanderHart

I am still working on a longer prompt but wanted to get one out this weekend, so here is a great prompt by a poet I very much admire, Han VanderHart.

Bonus prompt: write an essay, poem or story that works in one or more of common phrases that include the word “body” in them and juxtapose the phrase(s) to the experience of your own body, its location, interactions and value in the world. Here is a list that you can look through to see what clicks for you: “body politic,” “body count,” “body double,” “body check,” “body bag,” “body pillow,” “body of evidence,” “body of work,” “body of water,” “beach body,” “mind and body,” “body and soul,” “the body of the email,” “bodybuilding” and “body shop.”

For a variation on this prompt, take one of the common “body of (something)” phrases and reimagine its parts. For example, what would the physical parts of a “body of work” be? How would they function and what are their vulnerabilities?

Bonus bonus prompt: what objects—whether found or gathered or constructed—would you rebuild yourself with? What parts of yourself would you keep?

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Scams in Publishing and Why I Still Write

Last year was a series of rejections as I (apparently) foolishly entered contests and paid journal submission fees without a chance of success. I do realize that competition is fierce and that journals need resources for printing fees and for readers and guest editors, but what I didn’t know is how many seemingly respectable journals run contests to procure funds from new and lesser-known writers, only to solicit and publish the famous. Are all journals like this, no, but enough of them are—and these journals are known by the better connected—that publishing seems more than ever to be a system of predatory gatekeeping than an artistic community.

For example, look at the Narrative editors who pocketed submission fees but decided not to award winners and the prize $2,500 prize offering. I didn’t submit to this contest, but I had planned to this publication. Bless my endless procrastination for saving me some money.

Perhaps if I had known the co-founder tried selling its craft book for $225, I would have been more leery of the Narrative, but I trusted its legitimacy. Why should I not when Duotrope and other literary submission sites recommend it; it is well known enough for its own Wikipedia page? I wish I had read this article in Electronic Literature, https://electricliterature.com/narrative-magazine-is-selling-a-fiction-craft-book-for-225/

Narrative is so shady it even was part of a ProPublica investigation into nonprofits with the cofounders earning an income of $144,000 and $150,000. People deserve to be paid for their labor, but is holding contests but not awarding the prize money labor? https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/30542711/202422979349301827/full

Again, this is all well known to the inner circles of the literary community (or communities), but outsiders are continually fleeced. Perhaps that is the most useful benefit of an MFA from a prestigious program: you are invited to sit at the table with the people in the know. While I wasn’t cheated by Narrative, I have suspicions about Palette Poetry and Frontier (especially after a post on social media about the latter).

Along with actual scams, if journals need submission fees to survive because they cannot exist on readership, then the whole system seems a pyramid scheme since few people read those small magazines. Paying these fees will not lead to greater success then, although a list of publications often seems necessary for any credibility within the community. So rather than a pay-to-play publishing game, it would seem better to focus on a particular publication that you admire—the work it publishes and the editors’ ethics and efforts to bring attention to new writers.

First and second book submissions are likewise filled with predatory publishers, but publishing a first book by a seemingly reputable publisher is the dream. Now I feel foolish for submitting to Tupelo Press, which receives more money in submission fees than in book sales despite that it receives grant money. Here is an interesting article if you are interested: https://poetrybulletin.substack.com/p/special-report-reading-periods-for.

The last few years have been hard ones. I have given up thinking I will break out of obscurity as a poet or writer, although I certainly will cheer on those who do. I will continue trying to share prompts and any information I’ve collected to help others succeed. The world is better filled with poetry and stories and art of all kinds.

Ultimately, I will continue writing because it gives me a way to make sense of my life and the world around me, to appreciate the beauty that exists and perhaps sustain some small piece of it, and to create something that is in a conversation with other writers even if no one else hears my contribution. I remind myself that some of the most powerful voices in literature are people who are still unknown to the wider literary community, but their words comforted me in times of desolation. I believe my life is richer for having the opportunity to read or listen to them.

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story for you, the one you want to read and share.

I hope you continue writing and that you enjoy the process. I wish you luck and happiness. Please share your successes with me. I want to celebrate with you.

“Love the unloved”—Prompts Inspired by Nicolette Sowder

As someone who hunts for dandelions, earthworms, frogs, snails, mushrooms and muddy moss for admiring portraits, I immediately loved this poem, although I am doubtful of my contribution as an adult. Btw, I find many great poems by following Joseph Fasano, who is also a great poet.

For the first prompt, write a poem praising something usually overlooked or even considered “ugly” or “gross” to many people, such as a turkey vulture gliding on thermals or a glittery snail streak. Be exuberant in your admiration.

The second prompt is to write a poem, story or essay centering on someone in your daily life or society whose contribution is ignored. Perhaps you can write about the garbage collector or plumber. I certainly was grateful to the plumber who came out every time the sewer backed up into the basement, where the laundry and only shower was located, in the house I rented in grad school—my hero! This is the time to thank those in often thankless jobs that keep us and our surroundings clean and healthy and comfortable.

For a third, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “raise,” “dandelion,” “sense,” “needs,” “thorn,” “rainswept,” “grown,” “voice,” “bond” and “tender.”

The next is to write a poem or story from the perspective of moss or lichen, of the barnacle or skittering crab, of worms and minnows or anything that may have a viewpoint you need to share.

For the last prompt, write about the ecosystem of microorganisms that make up you. Write about the minuscule critters living on your eyelashes, the gut flora that is unique to you, or any of the other microbiota you are in a symbiotic relationship with.

Bonus prompt: write an adventure story using the title given, or write an ekphrastic poem with the photo.

And above is another photo prompt you can use if you wish. I found this on a walk in Kiln, MS. I loved how soft and pillowy it looks (but didn’t touch, alas).

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Hearts for Valentine’s Day—Prompts Inspired by Rita Dove

I adore how Rita Dove takes the overused metaphors of the heart and makes love tangible. If you would like to listen to her read this wonderful love poem and also finish what she says about it, please click on the link. https://poets.org/poem/heart-heart

For the first prompt, make a list of clichés about love or loss or any other common subject in poetry and then debunk them with facts and a literal interpretation of the metaphors, ending with a statement powerful in its simple honesty and accuracy.

The second prompt is to write a love poem or story that never uses the word “love” but uses actions and the setting to convey the emotion, and remember this can be about any kind of love, not only the romantic kind. Or write an essay that again never says love, but show it in your remembrance of someone, their words, their kindnesses, their presence in a room.

For a third, write a poem or story using the following list of words from the poem: “melt,” “harden,” “yearning,” “clutch,” “muscle,” “cage,” “key,” “wear,” “bottom” and “take.”

Finally, write a poem about an object or emotion by only saying what it is not. Never name it.

Bonus prompt: write whatever comes to mind with this photo.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

“Listing Along”—Prompts Inspired by Megan McDermott

I started this blog post weeks ago but found it impossible to write or even concentrate with all the terrible news. I will try to catch up and be more consistent (yes, I know I said that last month), but this will be, as always, a work in progress with frequent missteps.

While I had difficulty coming up with any creativity of my own, I found this poem fulfilling, humorous and insightful on each read through and comforting to my former desperately lonely self. The skillful repetition both unifies and moves the poem into new directions. This poem and others by the poet can be found in this issue of Anthropocene at https://www.anthropocenepoetry.org/post/megan-mcdermott-this-morning-my-therapist-suggested-reciting-positive-affirmations-about-my-dating

For the first prompt, use the line “This will not actually kill” as the first line to a list poem of what won’t or perhaps might kill you. Be sure to credit the poet for your inspiration.

The second prompt is to create a stanza listing what your friends, former lovers or you yourself have said to explain why you are alone or why you are not as successful in your career or writing as you wish and a second stanza debunking the self-blame. Give yourself credit. Be fulsome in your self-praise.

The third is to write a list of binary oppositions (open/close as used here or light/dark, wet/dry), focus on one set and build a poem or story around the tension between the pair.

For another prompt, write a story or poem from the following word list: “anticipated,” “vibrant,” “hand,” “touch,” “open,” “unfolds,” “obtainable,” “aim,” “choice” and “shoulder.”

Or, finally, write about what a therapist or doctor advised you to do or comforted you with in a poem, story or essay. I still want to have “With your family, it is amazing you are as normal as you are” framed and hung like a diploma.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Begin—Prompts Inspired by Jill Osier

We are often told to start a poem or story in the middle of the action to avoid unnecessary exposition, but this wondrous poem by Jill Osier sets up the scene, the action, the event, for us to finish, and even though it says so little about what happens, the poem overall works. I loved it. I hope you did too.

For the first prompt, set up your own scene for the readers to fill in the action.

The next prompt is to finish this scene in a poem or story, remembering to credit the poet for your inspiration.

The third prompt is to write a list poem for “It might have happened,” listing where and hinting at what could have been.

For the third, write an essay, story or poem about what drew you (or a character) to an unexpected place, the more unusual the better but grounded (in the muck if need be).

Now for an abrupt switch, here is a bonus prompt: Write about the coming year.

I cannot think of this coming year without fearing what will come even though 2025 will likely be easier for me personally since I finished radiation and completed the required surgeries and should (I hope) be done for now with the most difficult treatments.

For the final bonus prompt, write a poem, story or essay about the coming year with hope and encouragement to strengthen others (and me). Please share your writing from this prompt or any other.

Good luck writing, and I hope you have fun. May this year be joyful for you and everyone you love.