Oh my! According to our calculations, we are 7 days late with our prompts! Let’s do some catching up! We’ll work backwards, starting with today. If you’ve been writing merrily along without us, tuck these prompts away for a rainy day!
November 19: Late! Write a poem about being late. Think Alice’s White Rabbit, think for dinner, think for an appointment…
November 18: Where’s the fire? Continuing with our late theme…where are you rushing to? Or, where’s the passion?
November 17: Did you hear that? Stop what you’re doing. Be very, very quiet. Write down the first three sounds you hear. Write them into a poem.
November 16: I’m watching you... Who are you watching? Who is watching you? What (or who) has caught your eye? Write a stalking poem.
November 15: What are you wearing? Sure, it sounds creepy, but what you are wearing, or not wearing, and why, could make for some interesting poetry. For inspiration, try Googling “clothing poetry.”
November 14: Freewrite for 10 minutes. You know the rules: keep your hand moving, don’t erase or cross out, and NO EDITING. Choose one idea from your freewrite and expand on that in the form of a poem.
November 13: Unlucky! Or lucky? Write a poem about luck: good luck, bad luck, no luck at all… For an added challenge, try slipping in some cliches about luck, without sounding cliche-y.
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Hola! Aujourd’hui est le 12 novembre. Se você escrever um poema por dia? Need some translation? Try visiting Dictionary.com’s Translator. Begin a poem, translate it into another language, then translate THAT back to your original. The poem is likely to be lost in translation. In other words (loosely translated) your new poem can be found in your old poem. And that, folks, is today’s prompt: get lost in translation. Here’s an example:
In English:
The monster under the bed bares its jagged fangs.
I lift the dust cover, poke it with tongs.
Translated to German:
Das Monster unter dem Bett entblößt es Reißzähne.
Ich hebe die Schutzabdeckung, stoße sie mit Zangen an.
And back to English:
The Monster under the bed it bare fangs.
I lift up the shield, shock you with tongs.
See? Fun with language, with the added bonus of spicing up your poetry.
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Forgive us, while we were off enjoying poetry readings, we left you hanging, promptless, yesterday. To atone for our discretion, please accept this prompt for November 10: Forgive me… Write a poem of forgiveness. To get you started, consider William Carlos Williams’ (one of our favorite poets) famous plum-stealing apology, This Is Just to Say.
Moving on…
Today, November 11, is Veteran’s Day here in the US. Today, write a poem for a veteran. Write a poem of thanks, or remembrance. It is also Armistice Day. According to Wikipedia, armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, since it might be just a cessation of hostilities. Now, we don’t assume poets, the most peaceful of all artists, would be warring with anyone, but, if by chance, armistice rings any bells, please poem-on in that direction!