Prompt Writing: A Collaborative Experiment

This week, I was fresh out of inspiration. So Sandy, my boyfriend, came up with a brilliant idea. He was going to come up with the topic for each poem I would write throughout the week. And, boy, did he deliver.

Photo by @nickmorrison from Unsplash.

“Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eyes.”

— Roy T. Bennett

Also, before we dive in, I am officially a published poet! Published by someone besides myself, I mean. The long-anticipated eBook, Tales from Six Feet Apart, by io Literary Journal is set to be published today, and I have two poems featured in it.

Now onto the meat - poetry prompts.

I know, I know, I wrote a long post a while back about their utility, and I still agree with myself! Writing prompts are useful. Sandy’s prompts? Well, um.

Here’s what Sandy delivered:

1. Write a poem based on the experience of the people in the Skyrizi commercial (iykyk)

2. Write a poem about the passage of time during the pandemic 

3. Write an ode to coffee 

4. Write a poem about Kathmandu 

5. Write a poem about the rest of your life

6. Write a poem about how you feel playing piano 

7. Write a poem about feminist international relations theory

If you disregard the first one, they’re all pretty good prompts! But I think it’s always important to remember that, unless a prompt speaks to you, it’s going to be super difficult to write a poem about it. As the quote I shared today suggests, poems are personal - the good ones will catch and carry your soul.

Not to say I didn’t manage to crank out a few decent poems, and even one or two remarkable ones. My personal favorite was the one I wrote about Kathmandu, which I’ll be submitting a few places, so you won’t be seeing it unless it’s accepted somewhere. I’ll be working on revising and submitting a few of them over the next few weeks. 

Besides alllll this writing, I haven’t had much going on! I’ve been drinking lots of water, working out, taking a course on productivity, and just generally cruising through. Hope you’re all doing well.

So please, enjoy the many poems you have to read this week. I’ll have a few more coming your way soon! :)

Sandy Prompts, Day 2: Write a poem about the passage of time during the pandemic 

There’s a door that doesn’t go anywhere

anymore. We walk through, again & again

& again, but our home is mirrored floor to

ceiling, hands & feet slipped between ages

spent indoors, between stripped sheets or 

the same clothes for days on end. There’s

a door that doesn’t go anywhere anymore,

& I stand in between it &

you.

There’s molasses-coated window glass, that

slows the flight of birds to breathy second

wing beats, that freezes snow mid-fall, &

we watch, with skin stained in similar shades, &

I look at you, & you look

away.

There’s a house that sits stagnant to the passing

of time, that ages the world around it but stays

untouched inside, and we grow vines around our

throats & ivy in our lungs, & I couldn’t tell you

if my voice is spilling seed or sustenance, if the

language we choose to speak has any meaning

at all.