Poetry by Prompt-That's the Challenge

We often talk about being inspired to write poetry. Sometimes, we only need to be prompted.

Monday, I completed the Poem-A-Day Challenge that began April 1 on Robert Lee Brewer's Poetic Asides blog. The prompts were words or phrases, fill in the blank and one great device that I plan to use again (take a line or image from one poem and create another poem).

The challenge was to write 30 poems in 30 days on the topics given.  I would say I ended up with some poems, some poemettes that may be nurtured into poems and some words on paper that are never destined to reach full poemhood. Following is one example:

Something Borrowed

A violin handed down from you.
Not my first choice.
(I didn't know about Blue Grass then.)
I never played as well as you did.
Who wanted to practice with a bow
instead of playing with a ball?

What I really took away from this exercise is a new willingness to write. As you might expect, I had different reactions to the various prompts: that's easy,   that's interesting, I can't write about that and I think the stress of putting together two challenges (See My Name is Not Bob April Platform Challenge) is getting to him. But, if I let myself start to write, interesting things happened. Sometimes the journey was straight forward, sometimes it had detours and sometimes it had U turns. I made the most progress when I stopped thinking my way through the process and started writing my way through.

Did you do a poetry challenge during National Poetry Month?  What was your favorite prompt? Did you learn anything about your poetry or how you write it?

I have a list of ideas that have remained a list of ideas because all I have done is re-read them or think about them. I have never let myself simply start writing about them.  They are my new challenge. I can't wait to see where they take me.

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