Category: Poetry Prompts

Poetry Challenge #85

“Yes, You May!”

It’s May! It’s May! Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, grass is growing, trees are branching out—and so are we! Hooray! Hooray!

Taking a cue from the musical Camelot’s Lusty Month of May song, in which merrymakers prance about singing “It’s May! It’s May! The month of Yes, You May!” we’re giving ourselves permission to break a few rules.

With “Yes, You May” as the title, write a poem giving someone (or something)—maybe yourself—permission to be naughty, mischievous, daring—in other words, to do something he, she, it—YOU—would never, ever do. As this poem is a celebration of May, use flowery, colorful, provocative language. And, if you’re in the mood to be extra daring, give permission to go all out by having every line begin with “Yes, You May” . . .

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1100 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #84

To Be or Not to Bee

I’m no Hamlet—never played one, don’t live in one—But . . . I do know the beginning of Prince Hamlet’s Act 3, Scene 1 Soliloquy: “To Be or Not to Be…”  And now, if you didn’t, you do too. Thus primed, prompt on fair Prince/ess:

Richard Nordquist on Thoughtco says: The verb “to be” is one of the shortest and most important—yet oddest—verbs in the English language. It is an irregular verb; indeed, it is the only verb in English that completely changes form in every tense. The verb “to be” is probably the most important verb in English.— https://www.thoughtco.com/present-and-past-forms-verb-be-1690359

Below is a list of past and present forms of the verb “to be.” And, just for fun, a fuzzy black and yellow buzzy bee. Write a Bee poem using as many forms of the verb “to be” as you can. One way to begin is to write each form of the word be on a line and take it from there.
Past and Present forms of the verb “to be”:

I am, I was
You are, You were
He/She/It is, He/She/It was
We are, We were
They are, They were
And if you want to try perfect tense: have/has/had been
Image result for bee cartoon drawing
Be bold! Be silly! Be—gin!

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1100 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #83

Pets

Which animals make the best pets? List 5 or 10 or as many as you can in one minute. Which animals make the worst pets? List for another minute. What other animals can you think of? Time yourself one more minute.

Write a list poem using animals from your lists. Write three lines with 7 syllables on each line and finish the poem with a fourth line that has 5 syllables. If you need an extra syllable, you can add an adjective—a word that describes the animal—or a sound.

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1050 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #82

Diamond in the Rough

A Diamante is a diamond-shaped poem, simple as that.  In the same way diamonds/gems/rocks/stones—come in many shapes, colors, and sizes, diamante poems can be about anything, and they can be as long as you want to make them. A Diamante begins with a one word (or syllable) line. Each subsequent line grows longer by one. The longest line is at the midpoint.  From the midpoint, lines decrease in length until the poem ends as it began–with a one word line. The shortest Diamante has three lines:

One word
Two words
One word
 
Write a diamond-shaped Diamante about something you value. 
Here’s a frame to help you see your poem.
Here’s a Diamante Frame if you prefer structure.

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1050 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #81

Make a List

In a list poem, you can list things you like (animals, colors, makes of cars, playground games), signs of a season, tasks you have to do, items in a category, or what you’re going to do today. Once you have your list, play with the order. Choose better words that sound the same (maybe rhyme, or use alliteration). Can you make the poem sound like it has an ending?

Try writing a list poem. What are your plans for the day today? Or use one of the ideas above.

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1050 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #80

Scribble

In honor of National Scribble Day* celebrated every March 27th, scratch around for something colorful to write with: crayons, markers, colored pencils . . . lipstick—whatever you can find—and a piece of paper. Hold the writing implement in your non-dominant hand, close your eyes, take a deep breath and focus on whatever comes to mind. Then open your eyes and scribble—preferably on the paper.

Try scribbling whatever came to mind. if it was nothing, then scribble nothing. Scribble with 2-year-old abandon for as long as you can—at least 30 seconds.

Now, hold your scribble arm’s length away. While squinting like an artist (a beret might come in handy here), look beyond your scribble to what you drew. Write a poem about it.

*Not to be confused with National Crayon Day (March 31st).

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1050 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #79

Fibonacci!!

Number sequences are fun ways to create a form for a poem. You could write a poem with your phone number or your birthdate indicating the number of words or syllables on each line. You could write a poem based on the first six digits of pi.

A Fibonacci sequence begins with 0 and 1. Each number after that is the sum of the two previous numbers. The third number would be 0+1=1. The fourth number is 1+1=2. And so on.

Write a poem matching the number of syllables on each line with the first six numbers in the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1050 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #78

Little Bit of Bloomin’ Luck

“With a little bit of Bloomin’ Luck!” Alfred P. Doolittle sings in My Fair Lady. I know exactly how he feels! Who doesn’t wish for a little bit more luck—bloomin’ or otherwise. That’s what makes Saint Patrick’s Day one of my favorite holidays. Four leaf clovers, horseshoes, pots-of-gold, leprechauns, jigs, lucky charms and wearing green. It’s all about conjuring up luck and having fun while you’re at it. St. Patrick’s Day is this Sunday, March 17th, let’s celebrate by writing some lucky poems to celebrate.

If you had a bit of “bloomin’ luck” what would it be? What would you do with a lucky charm? Write a poem about it. Here’s a list of St. Patrick’s Day related words. See how many you can use in your poem:

Bagpipe, banshee, blarney, blarney stone, bog, brogue, celebrate, Celtic, clover, coins, donnybrook, emerald green, Emerald Isle, fortune, four-leaf clover, gold, good luck, green, harp, Ireland, Irish, jig, legend, leprechaun, limerick, , luck of the Irish, lucky, magic, March, mischief, pot of gold, potato, rainbow, Saint Patrick, shamrock, shillelagh, snake, St. Paddy’s Day, St. Patrick

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1050 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #77

Chant Poem

A chant poem has a repeated refrain.
1) Find a headline in a newspaper or magazine that you like the sound of. That will be your chant.
2) Write a four line rhyming poem where the first 2 lines rhyme and the last 2. AABB
3) Put the chant between each line and you have a chant poem.

Here’s my attempt:

Snow fell this morning, soft and white and cold,
I was thinking of our bench in Central Park today.

I liked it more before I got so old,
I was thinking of our bench in Central Park today.

I left the city a long time ago,
I was thinking of our bench in Central Park today.

Now I hear sounds of birds—the caws of crows,
I was thinking of our bench in Central Park today.

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1050 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.

Poetry Challenge #76

Thirsty Thursday

Draw inspiration from the title, Thirsty Thursday, and write a poem about thirst using as many “th” words as you can throw into it.

When you’re finished reward yourself with a nice tall glass of something cool. Cheers!

Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Start writing!

Don’t think about it too much; just do it.

*Kelly Bennett and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge over 1020 days ago. We now take turns creating our own prompts to share with you. If you join us in the 7-Minute Poetry Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.