Welcome to the prompt section for this year's GloPoWriMo!
Here you will find a prompt for each day of the month (or at least as best as I can). If you come up with any prompts yourself, please feel free to share them also. The more prompts we have the more food for thought there is!
If you've written a poem inspired by one of our prompts we would love for you to share it in the poetry section here:
I was in the poetry thread and saw that I had forgotten to post a prompt yesterday, if anyone fancies going out with a bang on the last day and writing TWO poems today, here’s the prompt I had for yesterday!
Day 29
"Recipe for a Day"
Write a poem in the form of a recipe using ingredients from your current day—coffee, conversation, silence, traffic, etc.
DAY 30 (FINAL DAY!!!!)
"April Exit"
Look back at this month. What surprised you? Moved you? Write a farewell poem to April using 3 lines from poems you wrote this month.
Day 28
"Today’s Texture"
Feel the texture of your clothes, skin, or something nearby. Use sensory language to build a textured poem.
Day 26
"Dream Spill"
Write down the last dream you remember. Now exaggerate it. Transform it. Turn it into today’s poem.
I thought I'd help with a visual prompt while I'm on vacation. This is the view from the water side outside my bedroom door for the long weekend and our road trip mascot duck. Spotties and rays swimming in the water at my feet.
DAY 25
"Noted in Passing"
Glance out your window or take a brief walk. Write a poem about someone or something you notice in passing.
DAY 24:
“Grounded"
Touch the ground with your hands or feet. What do you feel? Write a poem connecting your body to the earth.
Day 23:
"One-Sentence Poem"
Challenge: Write a poem that is only one long sentence. Let it wander and loop like thought.
Heeeey! You might have seen from my channel yesterday, I’m actually caught up in Hungary longer than I expected 😂 so I will leave today and tomorrow’s prompt for you all! Congratulations everyone, you’re doing great 💪
Day 23:
"Text Conversation"
Write a poem as a dialogue between two people texting—but don't tell us who they are. Let the clues emerge in the exchange.
Day 24:
"The Doorway Moment"
Write a poem that happens at a threshold—entering, exiting, hesitating, or lingering.
Day 17
"Street Symphony"
Open a window or step outside. Capture the sounds of your street or building as instruments in a symphony. Write a poem orchestrating them.
Day 18
"Unexpected Guest"
Imagine something or someone shows up unexpectedly today. Write a poem about how that changes the energy of the day.
Day 19:
"Personal Ritual"
What’s one thing you do the same way every day? Write a poem about that ritual and what it says about you.
Day 20:
"Pocket Poem"
Reach into your pocket, bag, or drawer. Write a poem about or inspired by the first object your hand touches.
Hey everyone! I am flying to Budapest tomorrow until Sunday so have put the prompts in the thread up until then! Hope you don’t mind! ☺️
DAY 16:
"Weather Report"
Take today’s actual weather forecast. Use it as a metaphor or mood board to create a weather-themed poem about your inner life.
Day 15
"Mirror Glance"
Look at yourself in the mirror and write a poem in second person ("you"). Be as tender or fierce as the moment requires.
Day 14:
"Something Missing"
Look around. What’s not there that you expected to be? Write a poem centred on absence or invisibility.
DAY 13:
"Unsent Message"
Think of a message you never sent—text, email, letter. Write a poem in the form of that unsent message.
DAY 12
"Playlist Poem"
Open your favourite music app. Shuffle or scroll randomly. Use the title of the first song you see as your poem’s title or first line.
DAY 11:
"Today’s Sky"
Describe the sky where you are right now without using the word “blue.” Build a poem using the mood it gives you.
Day 10
"Five Steps from Here"
Take five steps in any direction and stop. What do you notice? Use this micro-journey to frame a poem.
DAY 9
"Scent Memory"
Find a smell in your current space—food, perfume, soil, detergent. Let that scent unlock a memory, and write a poem from there.
Day 8
"Plant Perspective"
Look at the nearest plant (or imagine one). Write from its perspective. Is it thriving, struggling, eavesdropping?
DAY 7:
"Stranger Moment"
Write down the last line you overheard in public or online (yes, even on a Zoom call). Begin your poem with that line and let it lead you somewhere unexpected.
Day 6
"Poem at 7:00 AM (or PM)"
Write a poem set exactly at the current hour. Let the time guide your tone, setting, and emotion.
DAY 5
"Colour Report"
Observe the colours around you. Write a poem where you mention at least 5 specific shades (not just red, blue—think ‘copper rust’ or ‘midnight green’).
Day 5:
Wild card weekends: choose as you will.
I wrote a simple one line poem.
DAY 4:
"The Object Whisperer"
Choose a nearby object and imagine it has a secret. Write a poem revealing that secret from the object’s point of view.
DAY 3
"Found Words"
Pick up a newspaper, leaflet, receipt, or any piece of text around you. Choose 7 random words and use them all in a poem.
DAY 2:
"Soundtrack of Now"
Pause. What’s the loudest sound you can hear right now? The softest? Write a poem built on those two contrasting sounds.
DAY 1:
Today is 1st April — the day of fools, tricks, and mischief. Your prompt is to write a poem that deceives, disguises, or delights in misdirection. A poem that wears a mask. Here are some ways in:
Write a poem with a twist ending. Let the reader believe one thing… then pull the rug out.
Let a trickster figure (Loki, Anansi, a fox, your cheeky cousin) narrate the poem.
Write a poem that pretends to be something it’s not: a recipe, a letter, a weather report — but something is off.
Begin honestly, but let the poem unravel into nonsense or surreal humour.
OR write a very serious poem that ends with a subtle (or not-so-subtle) joke.
Bonus challenge: Hide a lie somewhere in your poem. Let the reader try to spot it.
Perhaps these 10 prompts may be more apropos to family
Imagine a fifth-generation child meeting a first-generation great, great, great grandparent, in a mingling of memories, awe, wonder, aspirations, inspirations, and the dynamics of age and life experiences.
The fourteen-year-old poet encountering a one-hundred-year-old poet—the sharing of dreams and the dynamics of living struggles.
Same-age adolescents meeting their twin aunts for the first time.
Benevolent quintuplets—how would they relate to a cranky grandmother or grandfather?
An older couple tells their six-year-old great-nephew how they met and fell in love.
A young girl meets her aunt, who has Downs Syndrome.
Where do age and experience meet?
What would four generations in a household look like?
Where does lived experience cross with living experience?
How does experience change perpective?
I would like to share 15 prompts, ir it’s not too early. I come up with prompts all the time, myself, so here goes:
As Spring emerges, do you find yourself aflutter with giddiness, or is thawing winter a nuisance that impedes you by its watery leavings and messy muddiness?
The train has left the station, but the conductor stepped onto the platform and forgot to call “All Aboard”; will you step up to conduct, or do you feel remiss and pray that complete anarchy doesn’t assault this troupe of travellers?
What does a blade of grass feel when a cricket lands on it?
Is there such a place as Nevermore?
Cicadas emerge from the earth every seventeen years. How do they react to light?
An ant’s world is challenging. How does it negotiate a driveway at breakneck speed, without fumbling or falling, and end up on the other side in under two minutes?
Monarch butterflies migrate three thousand miles every year. How do they prepare?
What is the allure of writing with a fountain pen?
With wings that move at seven hundred beats per minute, a hummingbird fascinates with its ability to fly like a helicopter. What happens if it lands on your finger?
A silent sailplane rides wind currents in the mercy of nature.
A Graf Zeppelin, a throwback to another age, drapes the skies in hypnotic majesty.
The honeybee’s work is one of natural genius.
Is it possible for a bull to enter a china shop, without breaking anything?
What is a frog thinking, poised at the edge of a pond, before jumping and descending into muddy water?
Migration is a phenomenon of many species. Where does the urge originate, and how do they know where to go?
If any of these help to spark writing, then I am indebted! I hope they oil the gears and fuel the freedom of wacky and wild words!