PROMPTS
~ If you find these prompts helpful please share with a friend. ~
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o Your thoughts on suburban yards
o The way you take your coffee
o Why your favorite time of day is your favorite time of day
o Something you believe should be free for everyone
o List poem: your most disliked foods (why? related to a childhood experience?)
o Pet peeve about an ex
o The feeling of your first big life loss
o We talk about “skeletons in your closet” – imagine something disturbing / provocative you might literally find in the closet of someone you care about
o Describe something that gives you joy but not your friends/family/partner
o What would you ask an Advice Columnist over a candid dinner?
o A charity you would give $$$ to if you won the lottery
o Reflect on the fact that you obviously care about the issue this charity was created to fund
o How an evening / weekend could make up for a terrible work day
o What scares you most about death?
o The first time you had a drink
o The family vacation that would have been a good memory [or] the family vacation that would’ve been a disaster
o If you could know one thing about your future for sure what would it be?
o The best gift you’ve given / received
o Why are you wearing what you’re wearing in the pandemic? What does it signify for you? What is it you intend to convey?
o Where (places / countries) do the foods you eat come from? Where are the items you regularly use manufactured? Express gratitude to these places.
o What are aspects of your routine that make a day feel like a day. What happens if your self-care routine is disrupted? Reflect on what aspects of daily life overwhelm you the most.
o Persona poem: Imagine yourself as a celebrity you like but does not seem anything like you. Write about how it is / how it feels to walk a day in this person’s shoes as if you were them.
o Next: Write about how what you wrote is an absurd projection.
o Finally: Try to merge these (braid) into a new poem.
o Reflect on your best habits, worst habits, as seen through the eyes of others.
o Imagine The Devil walks among us. What would this change about your day to day?
o Imagine a cooler version of yourself. What stops you from taking on this perceived identity?
o What would you never do for money? Ok, now let’s say circumstances made you do that. Write from the position of yourself having been reduced to doing this thing that you never wanted to have to do.
o Imagine you committed a crime – (your choice!) – write your emotions.
o Imagine you’re colorblind. How would this change the experience of living in your everyday spaces? Try this prompt writing in different rooms (spaces) that you frequent.
o Picture yourself on a park bench. Imagine you see something shocking. No time to capture a photo. How would you describe this to a friend / loved one / stranger / police in a frenzied panic or simply shock & awe.
o Write a poem in which at least three primary or secondary colors appear.
o Write a poem in blank verse without any adjectives.
o Write a poem in which each stanza represents one place you’ve traveled. Attempt to avoid linear time.
o Write a poem in which God reaches out to you directly and expresses disapproval for something you’ve done. The poem is your defense.
o Persona poem: Write a poem in which you are a Queen / King / Princess / Prince.
o Epistolary (letter poem): Write a letter to your favorite musician. Express what their music has meant to you / how it has shaped your life.
o Write a poem in which you mention a color you have just invented.
o Do Over / The Mulligan: Write a poem in which you rewrite a personal historic moment so it goes the way you wanted it to go.
o Write a poem as if you live your life on a houseboat. It can be luxurious (a yacht) or humble.
o Take a moment to write a few words that describe your mood. Now, flip the script. Write a poem as if you are in the polar opposite mood. Use lots of white space or else make it very cramped.
o Magic 8 ball poem. Imagine zingers a Magic 8 ball *might* provide. Put each on it’s own line. Write an 8-line poem. Feel free to reference old fortune cookie fortunes you may or may not keep in your wallet.
o Write a sour poem.
o Think about the structure of days (a calendar / a schedule) that would be more suitable to your lifestyle / habits. What would this calendar look like? Write a day in the life of yourself living in this more habitable space.
o Think about the best possible news you might receive on the worst possible day. For example, what if you were proposed to by your spouse on 9/11. Keep in mind duende (light/dark), the dual nature / the double-edge of our moments.
o Consider how you would approach yourself at a party. Engage yourself in casual conversation and see where it goes.
o What would be your ideal birthday? Who is with you? What is the arc of your emotional landscape as the day opens, midday, closes?
o Stare at a blank screen. How does it make you feel? Reflect on your personal relationship with screens without specifically mentioning screens or screen time.
o Reflect on anti-resolutions. Play them out.
o Under what circumstances would you commit a crime? Imagine it happened. How would you get away with it? Assume you do get away with it. You now have to live with yourself. Write from the life station of that inner turmoil.
o What is the best thing you can buy for $10? $5? Why?
o What do you buy that feels like the most annoying use of your funds. Put another way, what do you hate spending money on. Write from that position of frustration.
o Write about the worst gift you’ve ever received. Real or imaginary.
o Honor your guilty pleasures. What do you enjoy that you are embarrassed you enjoy? This can be cheesy music, comfort foods, bad movies. Regardless, these low-key vices are a part of what makes us who we are. Reflect.
o Ode to the Future
o Ode to the Past
o Ode to What is Lost
o Reflect on 3-5 of your favorite words. Try to use all of them in one poem. As a twist, try to use them in a context in which they would be unlikely to appear.
o Reflect on 3 things you’d want to know about a new town before you visited. How might this knowledge alter your experience of the upcoming visit?
o Think about something you have overheard. Or, imagine something spicy you might theoretically overhear. Imagine telling a friend or loved one the story and the back story you would use to frontload it.
o Return to a poem you’ve already written and temporarily change pronouns. Consider if anything has changed in the poem and what revisions might make it more effective.
o Create a Saint. What acts did this person do to achieve sainthood? Imagine we lived in a society where we deified everyday heroes in a similar but secular manner. Reflect on a person you would place on the pedestal.
o Return to a poem you’ve already written and emphasize different senses. Maybe smells will now overshadow what was previously seen or heard.
o Imagine you pick up an old book and a letter falls out. The letter is from someone abroad to a person who grew up in your hometown but with a surname you’ve never heard. You have no connection with this person or their family. Reflect on what kind of information you might be interested to learn about the visitor’s long ago experience in your hometown. In short, try to imagine your hometown from an outsider’s perspective; an added twist is placing it in a historic rather than contemporary context.
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Hot Haiku
5
7
5
7
5
7
5
7
5
Total: 53 syllables
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Write to Rebel
Write a poem in which you disagree (or play devil's advocate) with the statements made in another poem
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Title Poem
Use titles from poems or texts you love and reconstitute the words in these titles into an entirely original work
(Note: Play on Cento concept)
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Sizzling 7s
7
7
7
Total: 21 syllables
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Dictionary Poem
A poem that proves the need for a word in your language that does not currently exist
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For The Record Poem
Set the record straight about a situation that either went badly, you didn't get what you wanted, or you wish had turned out different
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Circle The Idea
In this poem, talk about what you want to address without clearly addressing the subject in any sort of narrative sense. Never state the actual underlying concept / purpose / agenda. Circle around your meaning from multiples angles.
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Meditation Poem
Write a poem that makes you feel the way you want to feel at the end of a meditation.
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Short ‘n Spicy
3 words
7 words
5 words
7 words
3 words
5 words
Total: 30 words
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Diagnosis Poem
Write about emotions surrounding a diagnosis (or) otherwise receiving emotionally charged information that was difficult to comprehend and required you to go through self-examination / reflection to comprehend the significance / impact of this information on your personal reality.
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Chip on your shoulder
We all have them. Reflect. What subjects do you struggle to approach in a levelheaded way without bias?
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Cold Call
Imagine you have to make a terrible phone call, a call you never want to have to make. Maybe you've already had to do so. Focus on the feelings surrounding your duty to make this call.
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Moving Day
Write about a time you moved. It's never a good time. There are always stories.
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Never Again
Address one thing you regularly have to do that you would most prefer to never have to do again.
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Fever Pitch, Ice Bath
7 words
9 words
11 words
5 words
9 words
13 words
3 words
5 words
7 words
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Food Trends
What foods do you get sick of? What foods can you eat every day? What do these foods mean to you? What is your personal history with these foods?
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Questions
A poem of questions that you feel you yourself cannot answer.
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Waylaid by the Interviewer
What would you most fear an Interviewer might ask you to "dig deeper" about? You don't have to write about this particular issue. Write about the context, the surrounding emotions.
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Parts Work
What runs you? Go beyond the concept of the angel and the devil on your shoulders. Reflect on how you make choices and why. How did you get to be the person you are today?
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Take It Back
Write your day in reverse. As you replay, rewrite. Make the day what it could have been (either perfection or abyss).
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Trash Panda
Write a poem about your favorite underdog creature of the natural world. Who doesn’t get enough respect?
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Eco Poem
First, don’t rant. Touch on the issue that concerns you most with grace. Play around the edges. Make us want the world to be a more harmonious place.
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Social Justice Poem
See: Eco Poem
Plus: Make it personal. Admit your complicity. What are you doing to further the cause? What are you too afraid to do? What do you wish you felt empowered to do?
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Make America X
What is this place? Why are we here? What does being an “American” in modern times mean to you? Show me pride. Show me power. Show me you’re embarrassed we’re not doing better.
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Music To Get You Through
Write about the tunes that save you, that have saved you, that continue to save you.
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Read The Comments
Write a poem using material exclusively repurposed from the comments sections of news articles (or a celebrity’s Instagram account).
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Ekphrastic Gone Wild
Write a poem in response to commercial art. Don’t write about a Monet or even a Banksy. Write about poem in response to an ad for a new type of rucksack or a perfume or a car or a just released clothing line or posts by Instagram influencers that are clearly paid product placement.
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Post-COVID
Write about activities you now never see yourself doing. Look through the lens of The Now. Of course, it’s possible that later we will somehow all feel comfortable again packed into tiny airless spaces…but I don’t see it. As Emerson says, “The field cannot be well seen from within the field.” We’re in the field.
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Dollar a Day
Let’s hope you have more than a dollar to spend on your food for each day. Given the price of food, let’s pretend you have a budget of $25 for all the food you will consume next week. Describe your meal plan and the surrounding emotions that come to mind as you reflect on this.
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Against the Nature of Streaming
Listen to an album all the way through. Write how it feels after. Consider how different it feels when you jump around, track to track, impulse to impulse, whim to instant so-called gratification.
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Full-Length
Watch a movie. Reflect on the path of a secondary character out of context. Inevitably, this character’s aspirations, hopes and dreams, were either dashed or else extraneous in the eyes of the main protagonist(s) / antagonist(s). Voice the silenced. Do you relate?
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Vices
You must have one. But why is yours less problematic than those of others? We tend to feel this is the case. Why is a vice a vice? Why a virtue a virtue?
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TMI
What is the line? Walk the line.
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Sentimental
What is the line? Walk the line. You are a trapeze walker. The floor is lava.
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Classic.
What makes something a classic? Do you agree? How do you relate to the Western Canon? How does is reflect your work? Do you see evolution?
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Supernatural
You can’t prove it doesn’t exist. You don’t have to believe in cryptozoological creatures to believe that there are elements of “the world” beyond the scope of our human faculties. Your thoughts?
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The City, The Suburbs, The Exurbs, The Country
You think you know what you prefer, don’t you?
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Utility
What would you most not want to live without? (central air, w/d, dishwasher)
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Boujee
What does this mean to you?
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Orbit
What do you owe friends?
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Relationships
Follow you down? (see: Gin Blossoms)
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Future Purchases
Without saying the things themselves, reflect on why you’re putting off purchasing the things you believe you want to buy for yourself when it seems feasible or appropriate. Is there a reason you feel you do not deserve [immediate gratification in terms of] what you wish for?
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