When you're facing a blank document and a blinking cursor that seems to be mocking you, poetry prompts are a great way to get those words flowing.
This post includes 6 writer-themed poetry prompts that'll help you pen down your next great poem while embracing that inner poet within. There's a moodboard at the end for some visual cues.
Feel free to use these phrases or words (if applicable) in your poems. Or sit with me as we delve into each word and string out your next composition. Whichever method inspires a poem out of you!
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The Prompts
1. Bleeding Ink Pen
Write a poem through the eyes of an ink pen. Who holds the pen and what does the person write with it? Is the ink pen going to be passed on from one generation to another? If yes, how does the new owner use it differently?
Think about the metaphors you choose to incorporate in this poem. Here's a Pin on nib anatomy for some inspiration!
2. Pressed Flowers Stained With Ink
I had placed some jasmines and wildflowers in between the pages of my notebook two months back. I opened the book today to see the flowers pressed with ink stains on their petals. It was such a beautiful moment for me to see my words painted over the translucent skin of my dried jasmines. Employ the line 'pressed flowers stained with ink' in one of your poems!
3. Pen Sharp As A Sword
Write a poem birthed out of rage and controversies. Turn the anger you feel in your bones into art. Be harsh and delve into catharsis. Use your pen like it's a sword.
“The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.” - Margaret Atwood
4. A Writer's Best Friend
Many writers love drinking a cup of coffee as they type out their poems. I have a favourite olive-green ink pen that I write with, especially when I can’t seem to find the right words. Pinterest boards, Spotify playlists, Trello cards—you get the picture. Compose a poem inspired by these 'friends' of ours.
You could also go with an alternative approach to the prompt and think about which value or virtue is a writer's best friend. Patience, passion, persistence. What according to you, is a writer's best friend?
5. Writer's Block
Craft an entire poem that revolves around the dreaded writer's block. How will you describe it? What senses do you associate with it? Is it a battlefield or a quiet therapy session?
Now, consider how the writer evolves when fighting the Block away. Are there any steps or stages to it?
Use these ideas in your next poem!
6. Scribbles On The Margins
Find an old notebook and look for phrases you've scribbled on the pages. What have you written?
I’ve scribbled down a reminder to drop my books at the library before 6:00 PM. Lyrics from my favourite song back in 2014. A doodle of flowers that had to endure the wrath of an angry pen cutting the drawings out later. A half-written poem.
What do you see in the margins of your notebook? Compose a poem inspired by them.
At The Poetry Cove, there are so many options for you to safely share your poems. You can get feedback from other poets, submit it to the Radio, and be featured too. Your poems will be considered for Poem of The Month and The Cove's Sunday Spotlights.
If you write a poem using any of these prompts, I highly encourage you to share them in this forum for us all to read!
I hope these prompts inspire you to craft a poem you're proud of!
January Prompt Winner: Mythology Themed Prompts
A few Covers shared their poem responses to January's Mythology themed prompts. I loved reading each and every one of them and found it so hard to choose one for the feature.
Please don't be disheartened if your poem didn't make it to the feature this month. I encourage you to submit again in the future.
With that away, the winner of this month's feature is Rob Edwards for the poem Red Kite Sonnet! Many congratulations and I hope you keep writing more poems inspired by your culture.
Welsh choirs lament of rare Red Kite banished
from ancient landscape of mountain and vale
Finest forked tail, black wingtips vanished
Can red emblem return, tall Phoenix tale?
Ranging over the heads of the valleys
Skimming the Southern sky, King Arthur's seat
Brecon, Black Mountains to St. David's Abbey
Perfect panorama, wing beat deplete
Rising up, mother Snowden is waiting
Wondrous wingspan, shadow mountain no more
Menai Strait's killer currents are hating
their red raptor missing, from Ynys Mon
Returning Red Kites are teaming, russet feathers are gleaming
Can Cymru identity flourish once more?
Resurgent Red Dragon is rising, no longer dreaming
Will Brythonic Bards return to their shore?
- Rob Edwards |@hedgehogggthepoet
This was such a creative and original blog post, Suchita. I would have never been able to come up with these in a million years. And the manuscript drafts were so interesting to see - I love seeing original copies of poems and getting to see the way people write and how their brains work.
Bleeding Ink Pen - this prompt has me very much intrigued. Might give it a go and see what happens. Always good for a challenge and this one seems challenging to me. Normally my poems come as free flowing with no real structure at first (I prefer it that way) but this will actually force me to think about it. I may combine this with the third prompt about wielding the pen as a sword... the quote you used has me blooming! "The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read." Love that! ❤️ I'm commenting as I read the article... like what is going on?! I'm pulling my hair…
Another incredible piece of work my friend! Every inch of all your blogs are so professional and neat. I'm really looking forward to the day I have time enough to sit down and write all of these poems. Nicely done -Suchita.
You done it again,Suchita.
The effort you put in your prompts equates to the amount of effort a poet may put in their own pieces.
Continue to let your creative spirit,flourish!!!!!!!!!!
Just wonderful Suchita! I love your posts and they’re always so beautiful to look at too! Some creative and thoughtful prompts here, bravo!