3 Helpful Prompts for Writing Poetry
Do you love poetry, and feel it moving through you…but sometimes struggle to catch, form, and share the poems you’re meant to create? That’s when prompts for writing poetry are helpful.
I’m often thrown by the ‘just do it’ challenge when it comes to art, because I feel the source isn’t actually me. I’m merely a conduit or tool for messages the universe wants to say.
Do you ever feel this? That the words you offer are actually being worked through you by a cosmic artist, squishing you like a tube of paint?
Still there are creative pursuits…and there are imperative pursuits. Making an income is one of the imperatives. And now that we’ve tossed this struggle between want and need right out in the open, let’s admit that sometimes we need to write. Not only can it pay the bills, it’s good for souls, keeps life moving, and offers value.
Which is why many of us turn to prompts when we need (or want) to write. Prompts for writing poetry are often thought of as open-ended questions or scenarios, given as one-liners to continue.
Yet before the one-liners are written to populate pre-made journals or assign in classes, there is a classroom of life in and around us. So, I like to think of “prompts” as potential in three buckets of opportunity. When you’re ready to write and need inspiration, try discovering your prompt in any of these three places:
Prompt #1: Observation
In this place, ask yourself…what do I see, hear, smell, taste, touch? How does it make me feel and why? How do these senses intermingle? What am I recalling, or feeling called to, by these sensations? What is so much bigger than me? What is infinitely smaller than me?
Savor or collect descriptions of the people around you, their voices, their differences, or the sounds of nature, the hush of indoor stillness, the patterns of footsteps.
Take in whatever is all around and outside of you, in the world you’re moving through. Imagine how others might be feeling, or what they may be going through. Ask yourself what that eye-catching hue says to you.
Prompt #2: Introspection
Another reservoir for creation is your inner world.
To mine ideas here, ask yourself how this time of day or place makes you feel, and why. What are the sensations in each part of you right now? What are the things that make you smile? What do you long to learn? What did you learn yesterday? What are your irrational fears, your favorite songs, a vision that soothes you?
When you risk bringing yourself to the surface, your perspective may resonate with others who may share your feelings…and find meaning in the way you give them life.
Prompt #3: Conversation
This, too, is a limitless landscape for poetry prompts. Especially when you don’t understand someone’s viewpoint, choices, or experiences. Conversation is a great resource for crafting third-person poetry, as in ‘It was then she knew…,’ or ‘Had he ever…’
Stirring around for prompts here can equip you to speak what others are seeking organized words to claim.
So, there you have it. Three prompts for creating poems, because I love to distill things into a limited number. I find that distilling input not only makes it easier to remember, it can concentrate the impact of your output.
In fact, here’s a way to remember this suggestion: next time you’re stuck wanting to bring forth a poem…just remind yourself: “Oh, I see!” And then choose to O: observe, I: introspect, or C: converse, your way forward.
Will you email me your next poem? Because whatever you create prompts courage when it’s shared.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Nick Brookenheimer