Five Poetry Prompts, a Writing Exercise
January 4, 2008 · Written by Melissa Donovan
This year, I’d like to get back to writing poetry regularly. I used to write poetry every single day, and as a result I have hundreds of poems in notebooks and in the writing files on my computer. For the past few years, I’ve only written a few poems here and there, because the focus of my writing has shifted dramatically.
Poetry prompts are a great way to trigger creativity and sometimes they inspire a truly wonderful piece of poetry.
For today’s exercise, I chose a few poems I’ve written over the years and selected five words from each poem. The objective is to write your own poem using all of the words from any one of the groups below. Of course, one poem with all of the words would be fantastic! Any combination will do, really, so pluck the words as you will. I think it would be fun to compare the ones I wrote to any of the ones you write from this exercise. Will they be about the same topic, or have a similar sensibility?
I’d love it if anyone who tries this exercise shares their results. Feel free to post the poem you’ve written from these poetry prompts in the comments section, or by sending me an email.
Five Poetry Prompts
Poetry Prompt #1
- steel
- theory
- saving
- imitation
- chisel
Poetry Prompt #2
- mirror
- hazardous
- dandelion
- famine
- committed
Poetry Prompt #3
- tapestry
- sings
- eye
- din
- collide
Poetry Prompt #4
- slippery
- fantasy
- casting
- chameleon
- lives
Poetry Prompt #5
- deadline
- boom
- children
- shallow
- dirt
Hopefully we’ll get some good responses on this exercise, and next week I’ll write a follow-up examining the similarities (or differences) in the poems that resulted from these poetry prompts. Have fun!
Update:
As promised, I am posting a couple of the poems from which the poetry prompts above were extracted. I’ve chosen two of the five, and selected those that were used most frequently in the exercises that were shared in comments and via e-mail.
Thanks to everyone who participated! Stay tuned for more writing exercises.
On His Mirror
Hazardous aches gnaw at his bitter spine,
flake snorting dandelion wine.
Standing in line for somebody’s torture,
a mendacious enterprise.
Buying and feeding the famine inside,
waiting by the trailer,
wifebeater
bow-legged
hammering needles into his lines.
Substitute lemons for limes,
in your cold corona,
committed to becoming the rail on his mirror
so he can eat you from the inside.
Slippery Fish
A response to “The Fish” by Ahmad Shamlou
That slippery fish you see, dancing
in poetry is a lie, I say
she is a fantasy, a pretty mermaid
beckoning you and casting shadows on your sea. Certainty,
she is the golden coin inside the fishbowl.
We all want a piece.
Consider instead the chameleon, shifting
her colors, rolling with the moon. She is
the water inside your fishbowl. She is
the goddess of the sea, in which lives
your mermaid
Certainty.
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You do not strike me as before
Your touch is cold steel
I try to pull fragments of truth out from your eyes
Only to find endless depths of deception
You are simply an imitation of the
Man I fell in love with
I must now chisel my heart
From your hands
Saving what is left of it
For my theory of true love
-Tanya Pyle 1/04/08
Nice Tanya! I especially like:
You are simply an imitation of the
Man I fell in love with
I’ll have to think about this one, but it’s a great exercise, Melissa!
I love these sorts of challenges. Any chance you’d consider making poetry exercises a regular feature? I’ve allowed my poetry to lapse as well, this is the first since October and they were sporadic before then too.
I would love to get back into writing poetry regularly but like you found my priorities turning elsewhere. A regular challenge could be the kick needed to keep producing despite our busy lives.
Anyway, here is my result. I’m into heaping the challenge so instead of picking one list, I used them all and was very surprised with the direction it went.
What do you think?
Children of War
Hidden in a prison of steel,
broken glass mirroring the darkness,
dankness, destruction, are shallow graves
built to house bones of ash death,
and wisps of children, clothed in famine
and washed in dirt. They shiver in the shadows;
chameleons within the chiseled rock,
crumbled stone, and shards of lives.
Memories collide with the din of distant thunder.
Casting off the shackles of youth
they pull about them, the shrouds of manhood;
an imitation born from the womb of survival.
But in the hazardous dreamtime, they cling,
with hungry glass eyes open,
to slippery fantasies
of dandelion fields in the summer.
They fear the boom, the clang, the metal teeth,
that heralds the moving dead-line, the only escape,
and sing silent songs in a woven tapestry
of light and laughter long forgotten;
saving raw throats for their most tortured gasps.
Sitting on the cold hard floors of institutionalization
they are nothing more than a theory,
the committed, a mind lost before the soul.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
http://www.writersroundabout.com
hi! my partner in crime (jillypoet) and i have a poetry site called “fertile ground poetry project.” we started working on this prompt via free writes at this post. we’ll pull poems out of them soon.
i posted a draft poem here. (my poetry is password protected. email me for it art [at] polkadotwitch [dot] com). thanks for this prompt.
Wow, Rebecca! What a vivid piece. I especially love the lines:
But in the hazardous dreamtime, they cling,
and
…the boom, the clang, the metal teeth,
You’ve made me long for a poetry workshop. I used to get great enjoyment from them, and they sure helped me improve my poetry! Perhaps we should start one here at WF…
carolee, freewriting is my favorite type of writing exercise, and I love that you and Jill used the prompts to do freewrites! I’ll look forward to seeing how you evolve your freewrite. Do come back and comment again!
Thank you, Melissa! I actually used to host a poetry workshop but it’s hard work. The lessons are still available at: The Tools of Poetry Workshop
I’d love to join in any of the poetry prompts or exercises you share.
Now, where is YOUR poem? Did you pick a list and write a new one too?
Sincerely,
Rebecca Laffar-Smith
The Writer’s Round-About
Hi Rebecca! Yes, I can imagine that running a poetry workshop (online or off) would involve many hours and a lot of hard work. Still, it’s something to think about.
I’ll definitely continue to post exercises, and you’ll find that many of them will be poetry-oriented. I also have some other poetry ideas that I’m working on for later this year.
As for MY poems, I’ll be posting those this Friday. We’ll see if we get a few more participants for this exercise before then, and then we can compare notes.
I like what I read here. If I gather my courage, I’ll be back to participate.
Thank you for putting this site up.
Tom
Sequim, Washington
Thanks Tom! I hope you do come back and participate. Keep writing
Well I just found this because I searched for poetry prompts to get writing again too! So this may be a little late but…here’s mine.
The sounds that I hear
Paint a tapestry in my mind.
My eyes, though they are closed
see everything;
Every motion sings out
Shouts to be heard.
Nothing is missed.
Though to some
all sound seems a din
and all noise simply
collides
to me
each word
each sound
is different.
I follow
the conversations
eavesdropping
in plain sight.
Once again
I go unnoticed
as I paint
this tapestry.
Hi Christie, Aren’t poetry prompts helpful? When I want to write a poem but don’t feel very inspired, I often use prompts and writing exercises to get going. You did a good job on this piece; it has a really soft, gentle cadence. I’ll have to get more prompts and poetry exercises up on the site soon. Thanks!
I would greatly appreciate any writing prompts that you have! So far I can’t find any really good websites. Most of them are too easy, such as “write a poem about your first pet” etc. etc. I like challenging ones such as your prompts better. They kind of get my thoughts going, and let me spend a bit more time. Thanks!
I’ve made a note to do poetry prompts for the next writing exercise, which should go live this Friday or next. I’ll try to make them nice and challenging too
I finished the next batch of poetry prompts and they’ll go live early tomorrow on 1/2. Hope you enjoy them!