Brewer - Write poetry now: 366 prompts for poets

For years now, Ive been sharing poetry prompts online at my Poetic Asides blog on the WritersDigest.com website. In fact, an entire community has formed around the common goal of creating new poems. In April and November, I host a poem-a-day challenge; the rest of the year, I share poetry prompts on Wednesdays. This book collects hundreds of my Poetic Asides poetry prompts, and it also contains quite a few new prompts.

Most of these prompts are good enough that a poet could write a series of poems off them. As a result, this book may contain 366 prompts, but it can produce thousands of poems.

Good luck, have fun, and be sure to visit the Poetic Asides blog at WritersDigest.com.

Write an against all odds poem. There are so many other scenarios that involve someone or something working against all odds to make something happen. Think of one such situation and write it!5

Write an evening poem. The poem could be about the evening in the city or the country; in winter or summer; outdoors or indoors.

Write an explosion poem.

Take the phrase (blank) Story; replace the blank with a word or phrase; make the new word or phrase the title of your poem; and then, write the poem. Example titles include: East Side Story, Toy Store Story, and Eventually Has an End Story. Or something else. Have fun poeming your story.

Write a sonnet. Sonnets are 14-line poems that have a variety of rhyme schemes, though they usually consist of 10-syllable lines.

Write a tribute poem. Tribute can be to a person, an animal, a plant, an electrical gadget, or whatever.

Write a holiday poem.

Write a good old days poem. Sometimes the good old days were actually good, but they can also be kind of bad. Everyone has a good old days poem in them (even if its someone elses good old days story). So dig deep and pull it out.

Write a secret agent poem. If you need additional inspiration, break out the 007 films.

Write a consumption poem. There are any number of things we consume as people, and even more if you think outside the human experience. Some are good, some not so much. But theres so much consumption going on every single day that its a great topic for poeming.

Write a gathering poem. The gathering could be a family gathering, but also about any other gatheringwhether human or not. Yes, that really opens things up, doesnt it? Also, remember that sometimes the more interesting things at gatherings happen on the periphery.

Write a poem involving shapes.

Write a looking back poem. This poem could be about physically looking back, or it could be about looking back over your past.

Write a travel poem. Come at traveling from any angle you wish, and remember that there are any number of ways to travel, including on foot, by vehicle, etc.

Pick a fruit; make the fruit the title of your poem; and then, write your poem.

Write a lune. The lune is 3-line poem invented by the poet Robert Kelly to make a sort of American haiku. It has a 5-syllable first line, 3-syllable second line, and 5-syllable final line.

Take the phrase Whenever (blank); replace the blank with a word or phrase; make the new phrase the title of your poem; and then, write your poem. Example titles could be: Whenever I write a poem, Whenever something good happens, Whenever never, etc.

Write a best ever poem. Now, dont stress out. I dont expect you to write the best poem ever written. However, youre allowed to aim for that if you wish. No, Im asking you to write a poem about the best ever something. For instance, the best ever kiss, best ever dance, best ever party, best ever comeback, best ever moment, etc. Think about your personal bests and then write one (or three).

Write a suspicious minds poem. That is, write a poem in which the narrator is either suspicious of someone or is the actual one under suspicion.

Write an its too late poem. Nobody likes a quitter, but sometimes you have to know when to hold them, know when to fold them There are times when its just too late.

Write a poem that reveals something. Maybe its something physical (like light revealing an intruder or pulling back a sheet to reveal a new car). Or maybe its something psychological, emotional, or spiritual.

Take the phrase Once Upon a (Blank), replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Example titles could include: Once Upon a Time, Once Upon a Moon, or Once Upon a Stage Accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature. Hey, a poet can dream, right?

Write a love poem. There is romantic love, but theres also the love for family, divine love, friendly love, etc. Dont limit yourself to roses are red and violets are blue

Write an anti-love poem. If youve had it with love (or love poems), this is the prompt for you. Let it rip.

Write a hay(na)ku. The hay(na)ku is a tercet (3-line poem) that consists of one word in the first line, two words in the second line, and three words in the final line.

Write a deadly and dangerous poem. Or you could write just a deadly poem. Or you could write a just dangerous poem. Feel free to poem on the wild side!

Write a kind poem. My interpretation of this prompt is that the poem should either be kind or somehow involve kindness in it. The poem could also involve cruelty, as long as there is some form of kindness somewhere.

Write an excess poem. In todays culture, there seems to be an excess of excess. From an excess of advertisements and political posturing to an excess of electronic gadgets and debt, theres an excessive number of ways to attack this prompt.

Write a waiting poem. Maybe the poem takes place in a waiting room, or the narrator is waiting for someone (or something) to arrive. Or maybe the poet is waiting for the lines to come.

Write a different perspective poem. There are a few ways a poet can tackle this one. First, write a poem from a different physical perspectivelike from the top of a building or at the bottom of a hole or in the trunk of a car. Another possibility is to write from a different persons (or animals or objects) perspective. If you have an even different perspective on this than me, roll with it.

Take the phrase (blank) or (blank), replace the blanks with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Example titles could be: This or that, Dogs or cats, Go my way or the highway, To poem or not to poem, etc.

Write a paranormal poem. The paranormal includes ghosts, aliens, and other not easily explained phenomena.

Write a sestina. The sestina is a 39-line poem that consists of six 6-line stanzas and one 3-line stanza. Each line of each stanza uses a rotating end word that follows this pattern: ABCDEF; FAEBDC; CFDABE; ECBFAD; DEACFB; BDFECA; (AB)(CD)(EF). The final three lines use two end words per line in whichever order makes the most sense.

Write a normal poem. I know, whats a normal poem? Actually, I dont know. Work that out in your poem. One way to attack this prompt is to write about something a completely normal subjectmaybe one not usually tackled in poems.

Write a what wont wait poem. Only you know what wont wait. Maybe its falling in love or workor death (one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems is about this topic).

Write an addict poem. There are lots of possible addictions out theresome of them serious and some of them not so much. For instance, there are times when I think Im addicted to work and pop (pop is what we call soda or cola in Ohio, where I was raised). Anyway, this prompt may range from the serious to the completely silly.