Survival—Prompts Inspired by Andrea Gibson

It was (and is) a sad day for the poetry community to lose such a power as Andrea Gibson, although I believe they, like all those we love, remain within us. Here is the link to the poem: https://poets.org/poem/chemo-room-i-wear-mittens-made-ice-so-i-dont-lose-my-fingernails-i-took-risk-today-write-down. If you want more of their poetry, especially of them performing, here is a link to their website: https://andreagibson.org/best-poems.

I admit it was hard to choose just one poem, and I know I will post others of theirs later, but this one I needed today.

For the first prompt, write a poem, story or perhaps an instructional essay on how to build a survival shelter or what materials you use.

The second prompt is to write what you take and what you give to the world. Let it be a small thing that brings you joy in the hope that another will also experience that gift.

For the third, or perhaps just as a writing exercise, describe everything beautiful and hopeful that you can in right now.

The next prompt is to write a story or poem using the following list of words: “arena,” “answered,” “shelter,” “branches,” “infinity,”“wrinkle,” “mirror,” “heirloom,” “rosewater,” “spinning,” and “afterlife.”

For the last, write how you would measure life, by what metrics or moments.

Bonus prompt: write about whatever this photo taken using an old app, PaperCamera inspires.

Good luck writing and living. May you love widely and deeply.

The Beauty Before—Prompts Inspired by Molly Brodak

After last week’s trip where I listened to a relative deny fascism and concentration camps, her own racism dripping from her mouth and her telling me to leave the country, I need a little hopefulness, a reminder that joy remains in spite of the horror and rot. I won’t keep silent to what is happening; I love people more than any country or any other lie. I just need to see some goodness and beauty before facing the present and its history.

The first prompt is the poem’s title itself: write a list poem, or perhaps a narrative poem, an essay or story about all the beauty you see early in the day, before its disappointments and griefs come home. Remember to credit the poet for your inspiration.

For the second prompt, write a poem or story about the panoramic view before a fall. Describe what Wile E. Coyote sees before he and as he looks down, those moments before gravity pulls him from the cliff’s height, but indicate to your reader that no matter how hard the landing, you (or your character) will rise again.

The third prompt is to write a poem or story using the following list of words: “open,” “upright,” “spokes,” “fragrant,” “mist,” “luck,” “morning,” “riot,” “minutes” and “comes.”

For the last prompt, look up the migration of a particular species of bird and butterfly and describe how it travels and what it calls home, interspersed with your own travels and homecomings.

Bonus prompt: describe this scene and however it affects you, letting the description of the setting convey the emotional response.

Good luck. Have fun writing and sharing.

A Different Kind of Life—Prompts Inspired by Naomi Shihab Nye

Although I am at a family reunion and happy to see loved ones, I cannot celebrate the 4th and its festivities while people are being kidnapped by ICE and deported to prison camps, the government is under the control of fascists and the US continues to enable genocide. I have little patriotism left, only a fear for the future and fury at what is being done to innocent people here and abroad, but perhaps that makes me the best patriot, someone who wants my country to do better.

For the first prompt, write poem, story or essay about current events and this holiday.

The second prompt is to write a poem about fireworks that blossom across the sky in hushed tones, without causing fear or anxiety in animals or those who have endured bombing and war.

The third prompt is write about someone or something that brings you hope or about someone you admire for their bravery, honesty and kindness or what future you want for this country and its role in the world.

Bonus prompt: write whatever this image inspires.

Good luck writing. I hope you have a chance to be with your loved ones.

Calling—Prompts Inspired by Sandra Beasley

This poem is perfect for job hunting, although I must admit I believe my skills—my speed in growing hair and flailing in shallow water and conversation—are hardly marketable so far. Perhaps I just haven’t found the right cubicle or puddle. As a child I visited Union Station in St. Louis and wanted to be bartender just to serve drinks surrounded by all that arched green tile and dark wood.

The first prompt for a poem, story or essay is to fill in the gaps in your résumé with the best vacations and lazy Saturdays you’ve had or to add the skills you feel give you the most joy, whether it is finding faces in tree bark and clouds or spotting mushrooms in undergrowth or remembering song lyrics.

For the second prompt, use the line “I’ll do whatever you want, as long as I can do it” for a ghostline. Remember to erase the line after you’ve finished the poem or story and credit the poet with an after statement or in the title.

The third prompt is to write a poem or story using the following words: “casino,” “dioramas,” “Latin,” “balance,” “falls,” “veranda,” “strangers,” “calls,” “broker” and “morning.”

The next is to write makes you “get up in the morning” in a poem, story or essay.

For the last, write about your calling and what or who is answering.

Bonus prompt: write whatever this photo and/or its accompanying text inspires (photo not mine).

Good luck. Have fun writing.

“Someone has to”—Prompts Inspired by Wislawa Szymborska

So here we are in another bullshit war that will kill civilians, further destabilize an entire region, create refugees to be denied entry and their humanity, waste billions of money and justify the loss of more rights here and abroad, all cheered on by the same liars and racists but now with the bonus of genocide.

So here is a powerful poem about war, the slow rebuilding after loss and destruction and whatever lessons learned are forgotten. Yes, it is beautifully written—skillful use of sound and imagery—but the ones who need to read it won’t, so let’s write a poem to shout at the worthless fuckers.

For the first prompt, make a list of cleaning tasks or repairs. Now take that list and expand those tasks to a city or countryside awaiting destruction, reversing the order. End your poem or story with the first bomb dropped, bullet fired, a cloud spinning into a funnel, or the start of rain.

The second prompt is to look at the headlines advocating for this war and find out what the author did during the last war in Iraq. Take a previous op ed or article from that journalist or politician back then and collect the statements that apply to both wars for a list poem. Or make an erasure poem of either article.

For the third, write a story or poem using the following list of words: “tidy,” “rubble,” “sludge,” “shards,” “glaze,” “shirtsleeves,” “shreds,” “rusted,” “cornstalk” and “clouds.”

The next prompt is to write an essay or story about cleaning and rebuilding the exterior/physical that illustrates an emotional/interior healing or recovery.

Another prompt is to write a poem about starting a war or causing a disaster that repeats the phrase “someone has to.”

For the last, write an essay, poem or story to stop a tragedy. “Someone has to.”

Bonus prompt: write about this stand of pine trees lost to the waves from the perspective of the one tree that remains on the beach. Or write whatever this photo inspires.

Good luck.

Nature and Mercy—Prompts Inspired by Ross White

So much is happening now—violence and oppression, genocide and fascism—that it is difficult to think of anything else. If you can to write about the current horrors, please do. Your voice is needed. If you have to step away for a moment though, to gather your breath and strength, then Ross White’s poem may take you elsewhere for a bit.

For the first prompt, choose the perspective fairytale or mythical villain to write from in a story or poem.

For a second, make a list of animal pairs that are traditionally enemies or are predator and prey (fox and hen, cat and mouse, etc) and a second list of professions and their opposition (or again a predator/prey dynamic, perhaps such as police officer and peaceful protester). Now mix those lists and see what sparks your interest.

The third prompt is to write a list poem of what is in your or perhaps a character’s nature.

The last is to write a poem or story using the following list of words from the poem: “fable,” “nature,” “current,” “brush,” “parched,” “strokes,” “faith,” “carry,” “mercy” and “sting.”

Bonus prompt: write whatever this photo, taken with an app, makes you think of.

Good luck. Have fun writing!

“where/extinct and extant split everything”—Prompts Inspired by Rose McLarney

I hope you are all surviving the disasters and destruction of democracy. It is particularly now that I find myself reaching for poems and stories for solace. Despite the loss central in the poem, the language and imagery in Rose McLarney’s “Fossils Aren’t Found in Appalachia” are so beautiful that I am pulled out of my own worries.

For the first prompt, take a pair of words similar in sound and/or spelling but contrasting in meaning and build a poem around that relationship.

The second prompt is to use “What we have to study of history” as a ghostline for a story or poem, using the line as the starting point and erasing it afterwards but remembering to credit the poet.

The third prompt is to write a story or poem about an object given to the narrator or a character from a loved one lost to time or death. The poem’s use of “room-filling light” and “animates” is so powerful placed before “lifted from the box,” “long lain” and “buried.” Gorgeous language.

For the next, write a poem or story using the following word list: “fossil,” “extant,” “gradation,” “lingering,” “ache,” “lifts,” “animates,” “remains,” “downstream,” “buoyant” and “together.” Or read the poem aloud, and write down the words that resonate for you. Notice the skilled use of alliteration and assonance (for example, “l” and long “a” sounds and later “s”).

For the last prompt, write about what is carried within your body; what stories does it hold?

Bonus prompt: write about a poem, story or essay whatever this image inspires.

Good luck writing! Have compassion for yourself.

Pleasure—in Honor of Martha Silano

I was so saddened to hear about the loss of Martha Silano whose poetry is inspiring and lush world building. Her “Everything Ends” seems particularly apt.

For the first prompt, provide your own response to the factual statement that everything ends. What drives you on?

The second prompt is to write a list poem of pleasures in your life with as much sensory detail as you can. Or you can describe a moment of intense sensory pleasure in a story or poem, emphasizing its transience.

The third is to write a poem or story describing a “planet without smoke.” What is this world? What creatures would live there? How would they eat and survive? How would the cycles of destruction and rebirth occur?

For the fourth, write a poem or story using the following list of words: “sultry,” “unravel,” “pant,” “brushfire,” “floodlit,” “seaweed,” “random,” “microbe,” “sharpening” and “catch.”

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story from the perspective of either the cardinal or the bottlebrush whose leaves and branches were killed by a winter storm but will regrow after cutting. Or write whatever the photo calls to mind.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

Rain and Falling—Prompts Inspired by Jiang Jie and Eileen Chengyin Chow

I appreciate the work of translators so much—they bring beauty to those of us who would otherwise miss so much of the world’s light. This poem seems particularly relevant now, and its vivid imagery and skilled use of alliteration stirring. I hope you find it as comforting as I did.

For the first prompt, write a poem or short story in which the passage of time for the speaker is indicated by a recurring natural event: rain, as in this poem; sunset; the blooming of a particular flower; or perhaps the last leaf falling.

The second prompt is a longer process. First, make a list of five locations and five moments of intense change. Look at both lists and see which pair intrigues you and describe the location in as much sensory detail as you can remember. Now gradually change the details as the story or poem progresses: perhaps the light pattering rain becomes a downpour that transforms into raining spiders (this does happen in Brazil and others parts of the world) and eventually becomes a raining of all your (or your character’s) fears.

The third prompt is to write a poem or story with the following list of words: “candles,” “brocade,” “thatched,” “temples,” “skiff,” “buffeted,” “calling,” “speckled,” “reunions” and “dawn.”

The last is a writing exercise: rewrite the poem, replacing all the nouns in the poem with your own; afterward, choose the revised line you like best and write a story or poem with that line as your jumping off point.

I sometimes prefer the world somewhat blurry, softening the harsh outlines and divisions like an Impressionist painting. For your bonus prompt, take an image and move the narrative away until it blurs into the rest of the scene and everything seems to belong in harmony.

Have fun writing! Good luck!

A Heartbreaking World—Prompts Inspired by Cameron Awkward-Rich

So how has your 30/30 challenge gone? Last year I wrote at thirty poem drafts; this April, I wrote one poem. Last year I posted thirty prompts for the challenge, and, well, you know how few I’ve posted in comparison. I have gotten to hear amazing poets discuss their work and their processes and leave conferences inspired, only to sink back down in the anxiety and grief. I have found it difficult to know how to respond, how to resist, how to help.

We are all navigating dark times in the dark, so let’s reach out to another and work to build communities to protect and support everyone, especially those targeted. We can join existing organizations who are already doing great work and build local mutual aid groups of our neighbors. We also need to keep writing and communicating the truth and our values, and there again are groups of writers leading the way. Certainly, this poem by Cameron Awkward-Rich calls powerfully to our shared humanity, our shared vulnerability, our shared need for one another in a world that separates us in a myriad of ways.

For the first prompt, use antistrophe (words or phrases repeated at the end of lines) like the poem’s “it breaks my heart” in a list poem. Like “Meditations in an Emergency,” you can drop the phrase from the lines and use it to end the poem. The last repeated line with its one additional word makes me gasp.

For the second, use the line “There are no borders, only wind” as a ghostline, remembering to start the poem or story from it but erasing the line afterward and crediting the poet for your inspiration.

The third prompt is to write a poem or story from the following list of words: “wake,” “blinds,” “train,” “doves,” “tents,” “hawking,” “dream,” “borders,” “wind” and “institution.” Try to switch the verbs to nouns and vise versa if possible.

The last is to write a poem or story as you move from one part of a city or town to another, tying the people and sights you (or the narrator) see together into a unified world. Repetition is a useful tool for both unification and emphasis. You may find this article’s description of different methods of repetition helpful: https://writers.com/repetition-definition.

Bonus prompt: write a poem or story about either of these murals.

Good luck writing! Have fun!

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!

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!

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!