Scary Poetry Prompts
Poetry prompts are great for those times when you have the creative itch but just can’t seem to reach around to scratch it. Hey, we can’t be inspired every single day.
Writing exercises like poetry prompts challenge us while stirring our creativity.
And these ones are just in time for Halloween.
All Hallow’s Eve
Halloween comes from an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season and the time of year when people slaughtered livestock for the coming cold months.
Because it marked a new cycle, this festival was viewed as a kind of new year celebration. It was also the time of year when the fog between our world and the world of the deceased evaporated, which meant the dead could move about in our world and wreak havoc.
During this festival, people wore costumes. They might have been disguising themselves in order to hide from evil spirits. Maybe they were trying to pacify the dearly departed.
Poetry Prompts
These poetry prompts honor the tradition that is Halloween. Love it or hate it, it’s right around the corner and before you know it, those little witches and goblins will be gobbling up all your candy (or else you’ll be warding off tricks and pranks).
The rules are simple and you can change them as you see fit. Choose one of the word groups below and write a poem that contains all the words and phrases on the list. Or, scramble the lists to come up with new ones of your own.
Feeling really creative? Write a single poem containing all the words from all the lists below. Good luck.
Sheer Horror
- scythe
- fresh flowers
- bloody corpse
- dainty
- screaming
- deadly
- discovery
Ghostly Ghouls
- haunted visions
- mimicry
- safe
- knock-knock
- dragging
- lifeless
- from the chase
Kids and Candy
- frills
- trickery
- little beggars
- dentists
- chasing sugar
- costumed
- clever
Have fun with these poetry prompts, and feel free to share your poems in the comments, or if you publish them online, drop a link.
And keep on writing!
Got any poetry prompts or writing exercises to share? Leave a comment!
Melissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter. She writes fiction and poetry and is the founder and editor of Writing Forward, a blog packed with creative writing tips and ideas.
We need some new writing prompts and soon. the old ones are getting stall.
Alrighty then. I’ll hop right to it!
Seriously, new prompts coming soon.
(I’m using the words in the ‘sheer horror’ prompt as the basis for an improvised poem. Enjoy, if you can….)
The Scythe
you happen upon a chance discovery
freeze, look this way and that
one foot in the air
like a deer
you have no use for screaming
the world is such a deadly place
but, oh, what a splendid surprise!
you bolt outside
gather fresh flowers
lay them by my bloody corpse
– someone did the job for you! -
and you rejoice
dance
lick the blood from my corpse
pinch my nose
say ,”Death becomes you, my precious.”
throw your arms up
Reality is Good
God is Good
Chance is Good
whoever was so good
as to kill me
– what a thoughtful person -
took no care to cover the crime
you remedy the matter
concealing the entrance
so that no one may
discover
I might remain
forever a secret
and you might return once in awhile
to dance
forgetting in your frenzy
the scythe cuts
for us all….
(Greg Cameron, Poem, Surrey, B.C., Canada, December, 2010)
It’s dark and disturbing and inspired. Good job.