NaPoWriMo Prompts 2015 The “I’ma Let You Finish…” Edition
Welcome to the third circle of poet hell otherwise known as NaPoWriMo or 30/30. I’m kidding! (but not really) Your mission should you be so brave to accept, is to write 30 poems over the course of 30 days. The key word is write not edit—write the poems, worry about the edits in May. For those of you new to 30/30, you do not have to take on all of the prompts—as I have included 90 (yes, 90!!!) nor do they have to be done in particular order. If it sparks an idea, run with it. Just like the last few years, I sourced the prompts from various places and included some of my own design. Feel free to share the link and/or pass this along. If you get something good from one of the prompts, feel free to tag me on social media. You can find me and/or read some of my 30/30 on Tumblr @ poetcalledgenius Annnnnnnnd GO!
1. Three Words At least once in every batch of prompts, you’ll see this exercise, so let’s get it out of the way. Here, we’ll include a plot twist. Pick five words from the list below. You must use at least THREE of your picks in one piece. Of the remaining two words, one must be incorporated into the title. (you really didn’t think I was going to let you off that easy did you?) abscond affinity immolate halcyon lock ticket cement calligraphy ambulance penumbra surreal haptic library gold bent tragedy architect square marble parable devastate salt diplomacy scorpion machine leak sleep synonym stiletto voicemail
bliss empress depraved shibboleth stranger toxic megalomaniac smooth crucial phalanx conflict manifest placebo regretful glass traffic intervention chain fresh junk vertigo anathema thorn profound gossip nucleus heavy heretic cuffed ritual
dim tangle gelid electric scale ennui apposite paradox panacea espresso acronym anarchy calliope echo silhouette operatic vicious cord cardboard tarot worthy element sequence vice modern archipelago hologram insidious orison lottery
string postcard hinged chimera sandwich mint sonnet quixotic sublime nuance orchid perpendicular conversation scarf art daisy catharsis sermon tourist nomad lethologica nilhistic equinox salacious novice dialtone orange necromancy kaleidoscope savior
esoteric pitch savage hyperbole forward audacity cusp tryst switch edit cynic lace piano dragon redemption lunatic permission paragraph cult maligned graffiti phoenix microcosm confidential ink scripted empathy sword ghost hedge
2. Sorry, Not Sorry Write a poem about something you would normally apologize for but shouldn't. Or, the opposite...
3. Hashtag THIS! Write a poem (any subject) as if it were a series of tweets. No line can be more than 140 characters.
4 … 3, 2, 1 You’re going to write an 8 line poem. Unless you are INSANE, 8 is as far as you want to go with this. The poem can be about anything. Line 1: 8 one syllable words Line 2: 7 two syllable words Line 3: 6 three syllable words Line 4: 5 four syllable words Line 5: 4 five syllable words Line 6: 3 six syllable words Line 7: 2 seven syllable words Line 8: 1 eight syllable word
5. Assume the persona Write a persona poem from the perspective of one of the following: ● An alcoholic's drink ● A historical figure who feels they don't get enough credit ● A rose on Valentine's day ● Your favorite literary character ● A ghost that doesn't realize they are a ghost ● A container holding something near and dear to you ● A microphone at a poetry venue ● A car on its way to being crushed at a scrapyard ● A cockroach when the lights come on ● A product that has just had the price marked down (if you’re stuck, think seasonal objects that stores try to get rid of)
6. 100 Words Below is a list of the 100 most commonly used words in the English language. For this prompt, you can either: A. Attempt to use all 100 in a single poem or, B. Write a poem that doesn't use any of the words on the list the of and a to in is you that is he what for on or as with his they I
at be this have from or one had by word but not what all were we then your can said
there use an each which she do how their if will up other about out many them then these so
some would her make like him into time has look two more write go see number no way could people
my than first water been call who oil its now find long down they did get come made may part
7. The Scenario Write a poem around any of the following scenarios: 1. You leave an important message on the wrong person's voicemail. Or the other way around... 2. You remove your clothes from the dryer and find an object that doesn't belong to you. 3. You go to a bar with friends but accidentally run into someone you've been avoiding. 4. You return home to find your house has been broken into, but only ONE thing is missing 5. You wake up to find yourself in a stranger’s bed 6. You manage to break something and you are trying to figure out how and if, you can put it back together 7. A friend has passed, but just before they did, they sent you something (package, message, etc.). You’ve JUST received it 8. You realize an ex has been regularly checking your social media accounts. You decide to start sending subliminal messages via your status updates (you can write the poem in the form of the updates) 9. A stranger walks up to you and asks to take a picture with you. You realize very quickly that they’ve mistaken you for a celebrity. 10. You stay at work late one night and accidentally overhear an affair
8. Time Think of a unit of time (a day, a minute, 5 hours, a millisecond). Write a poem that takes place in that exact unit of time. For an extra challenge, grab a stopwatch. Give yourself 10 minutes to write the poem. It ends where you end.
9. Famous Last Words Take the last words of someone famous or notorious and use them as the first line of your piece. I have included some starters: Blues singer Bessie Smith died saying, “I’m going, but I’m going in the name of the Lord.” When Harriet Tubman was dying in 1913, she gathered her family around and they sang together. Her last words were, “Swing low, sweet chariot.” John Wayne died at age 72 in L.A. He turned to his wife and said, “Of course I know who you are. You’re my girl. I love you." Actress Joan Crawford yelled at her housekeeper, who was praying as Crawford died. Crawford said, “Damn it! Don’t you dare ask God to help me!”All the quotes from mentalfloss.com1
10. Imaginary Friends You are a kid’s imaginary friend. He’s growing up and you’re fading away
11. Smooth Criminal You are reading a newspaper article about a crime wave that has the whole city scared. You’re the perpetrator
12. What is it? Describe an object in the room you are currently sitting in without mentioning it by name.
13. Dinner Date Write a poem in which you are having dinner or coffee with an old friend. Write out the scene, include what you would talk about, what you ate etc. etc. After you’re done, reimagine the entire scenario replacing your old friend with your greatest fear
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http://mentalfloss.com/article/58534/64-people-and-their-famous-last-words
14. 3rd Party Below are some scenarios. Imagine you are a witness to what’s happening, but write from the perspective of the third party listed after the scenario. 1. A couple is in the middle of what is obviously a breakup in the middle of a restaurant. Perspective: you are their waiter 2. Two people have just had a very scary car accident, but have managed to walk away unscathed. Perspective: you are the car 3. A group of friends are plotting a murder. Perspective: you are the murder weapon 4. A man is about to propose to his significant other. The significant other is no longer in love and is going to say no. Perspective: you are the ring 5. Someone is about to win the lottery for several million. They don’t deserve it. Perspective: you are the ticket
15. Self-Love Write a love letter to some aspect of yourself that you are self-conscious about or outright dislike
16: On Repeat Write 25 different versions of the exact same event
17: 24 Hours Think of everything you’ve experienced in the last 24 hours. What jumps out at you—even if it’s something mundane. Write about that moment
18. Everyday Routine In the same vein of the previous prompt, think about something you do on a regular basis (regular to you but not necessarily regular to the rest of the world). Write about it, but make it sound as exciting as possible.
19: Timelines Write about an event in linear fashion— beginning, middle and end of story. When you’re done rearrange the stanzas so that the timeline of the poem is backwards (the end of the story is the beginning of the poem)
20. Social Status Pull five random statuses from your current social media feed. Write a poem that incorporates all five.
21. Discontinued Think of a product or a service you strongly dislike. Imagine you have the opportunity to convince the company to take that product or service off the market. Now imagine that product is an emotional state. Write a poem that incorporates your message.
22. Movie Titles Replace the missing words in any of the movie titles listed on the left with any word from the lists on the right and use the result as the title of your piece The Theory of __________ Secrets and ___________ A _________ Mind ________ of New York Lost in ________ Finding ________ Letters from ________ There Will Be ________ Midnight in ________ Life is ________
Failure Voices Fiction A telephone booth Google maps Linguistics Poverty The zombie apocalypse Salt Revenge
The DMV Asymmetry Biology A police station Nonsense Dr. Seuss Dust A ghost town A laundromat A broken delete button
Compassion A bus going nowhere A karaoke bar Aggression A beautiful mess The number 23 Compassion A bus going nowhere A karaoke bar Aggression
23. Gozer the Gozarian (aka choose your form) Write a form poem. Choose from the list below. If you’re unfamiliar you can Google any of these: Acrostic Villanelle Sestina Contrapuntal Ghazal 6x6
Haiku Tanka Bout Rime List Poem Pantoum Pleiades
Rondeau Pecha Kucha Epigram Idyll Cinquain Concrete
24. Vigo the Carpathian (aka Ghostbusters 2 aka cross the streams) Because form poems weren’t hard enough… combine two forms from the list above: Examples: ● I created a Devil Sestina by combining a sestina with a 6x6. So 6 stanzas, 6 lines each stanza, 6 words each line still in sestina pattern. (the 7th stanza only uses the original 6 end words from the sestina) ● Cel Landicho created an Acrostiku, which is an Acrostic where every line is its own haiku and the phrase for the acrostic is also a haiku (down the left hand side)
25. Viral Language is a Virus is one of my all time favorite writing sites. They have two really great tools (among others): WTF O Vision: http://www.languageisavirus.com/wtf-o-vision/index.html#.VQiR-_m-0yo Let’s you enter a block of text and will randomly replace words. Cut Up Machine: http://www.languageisavirus.com/cutupmachine.html#.VQiR-vm-0yo Mixes up blocks of text for you and builds sentence combinations using your text Use either of these on a poem you’ve already written (try it with a poem you don’t like and see if something, interesting or unexpected comes from it)
26. N+7 Oulipo To create an N+7 oulipo, you take a poem already in existence and substitutes each of the poem's substantive nouns with the noun appearing seven nouns away in the dictionary. Be careful to ensure that the substitution is not just a compound derivative of the original, or shares a similar root—it should be a completely different word. *7 is an arbitrary number btw, you should do at least +3 but I’ve seen +15. You can also change the part of speech i.e. a V+7 where instead of nouns you switch out the verbs
27. Constraints Normally I wouldn’t tell you what you can’t do, but that’s kind of the point with this prompt. Write a piece using different types of constraints… ● Snowball: a poem in which each line is a single word, and each successive word is one letter longer. ● Lipogram: Writing that excludes one or more letters. The previous sentence is a lipogram in B, F, H, J, K, Q, V, Y, and Z (it doesn't contain any of those letters.) ● The prisoner's constraint is a type of lipogram that omits letters with "legs" (b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, p, q, t, and y).
28. Come in Threes Write a poem that begins and ends with three single syllable words.
29. Name Game Write a poem about a person or a place that has several different names
30. Rewrites Type out a Shakespeare sonnet (or any poem for that matter, but one that is not yours and outside of your typical style). Be sure to double-space it on the page. When you’re done, rewrite it (in your own style) between the lines.
31. The Gloves Come Off We all have those moments where we hold back on saying something. When it happens, write down exactly what you were thinking—just the phrase, do not add context. When this happens a few times (because you’d be surprised how many times we do it), put the phrases together in any order to create your poem.
32. Censorship Here is a link to the texts of 74 banned books: https://archive.org/details/bannedbooks For this prompt: a. Pick one of the banned books from the list (some titles included are: Alice in Wonderland, Portrait of a Lady and the Wizard of Oz) b. Once you’ve chosen a book, choose a random two digit number and flip to that page of the text c. Create a blackout poem using only the text on that page *to create a blackout poem, erase or eliminate portions of the text at random, leaving behind words or phrases intervals—the leftover text, is the poem. You can find examples online if you need a visual.
33. Freewrite Write down your favorite quote, a song lyric or a phrase you say regularly. From there, continue to freewrite. If you get stuck, rewrite the first line and continue. Do this until you get to a good stopping point and then go back and remove all of the repeats (except for the first line). You should have a moderately cohesive poem.
34. Ekphrasis An ekphrasis is a poem inspired by or based on a piece of artwork. For this prompt you’re going to write around any of the following 4 photos. If none of them inspire you, check this link to Google’s cultural institute which lets you virtually access museums, art galleries and collections from around the world: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/home
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
35. Antonymy Take a book quote, a poem you’ve already written, you could possibly use a text message conversation for this—write the exact opposite of it. Ex: “To be or not to be? That is the question” becomes “To not be and to be, that is the answer”
36. Chimera a. Write a poem on any subject—don’t make it an uber long one. b. Once it’s written underline all the nouns, verbs and adjectives c. Grab 3 pieces of short random text (any source—books, other poems, whatever) d. Systematically replace (in order) the underlined words in your piece with ones from the source text. Take all of your verbs from the first source, the nouns from the second and the adjectives from the third
37. Natural Disasters Pick a natural disaster. Describe what it does in some detail. How does it move? What happens to the things in its path? Once you have a pretty good description, go back and personify the disaster by giving it an emotional state (fear, self-loathing, joy) to explain why it does what it does.
38. Process Start with a common process that some people can do without thinking about it (ex: navigating traffic, making coffee in the morning or writing a poem). Come up with an offbeat or usual way to describe the process in one sentence—this is the first line of your poem.
39. Start/End Pick one place from each column below. Your piece should start in one place and end in the other. How you get there is up to you. Start here… Shooting range Psychiatric hospital Sitting on a park bench Stuck in an elevator Winery The middle of the desert séance Your childhood home In the back of a taxi A public execution
…End here Porch swing Your ex’s wedding Locked in Walmart after hours Inside a scene from your favorite tv show An art gallery On an awkward first date A fast food place at 3 am An abandoned playground Sitting at a stop light At the Mexican border with no passport
40. Liar Liar Write a ten-line poem in which each line is a lie. Your lies could be silly, complicated, tricky, or obvious.
41. Twisted 20 Twenty questions with a twist. Typically the prompt would be to write down 20 questions you would ask someone else if you had the chance…instead, write 20 questions you want to ask a younger or older version of yourself
42. Permission to be a Jerk Write a piece that is completely outside of your personality. If people consider you nice... write an angry poem.
43. A Conversation Between Yep…an old favorite prompt is back. Pick 2 or 3 characters from the list below and write a poem consisting of a conversation between those characters. The title of the poem will be “A Conversation Between…” 1. Tupac 2. President Obama 3. A woman going into labor 4. A man on a date wearing a really bad toupee 5. A 5 year old 6. A character from your favorite video game 7. Your next door neighbor 8. A mime 9. Barbie 10. Kanye West 11. Your favorite author (dead or alive) 12. A taxi driver 13. The GEICO gecko 14. Your crush (past or current) 15. Richard Sherman 16. Your high school guidance counselor 17. A would be robber 18. A person about to jump from a high building 19. An extraterrestrial 20. A person who ends everything they say with a question
44. Dislike Think of a thing you really dislike (a food, a word, an object). Either: A. Write a poem professing your profound dislike or, B. Write about the thing using nothing but metaphors
45. Kids Do the Darndest Things Write about something you did as a kid that would be ridiculous if you did it as an adult
46. Playlist Ultra Challenge This is the regular version of a playlist challenge stepped up a few notches. Here’s how it works: Set your playlist—iPod, Spotify on random/shuffle (or you can use whatever comes on the radio while you’re commuting from work if you’re feeling bold). Then pick one of the following: a. Take the first 15-20 song titles and use them to create a list poem b. Take the first 5 song titles and incorporate them into a piece c. Use the first song title that comes up, no matter what it is, as the title of your poem d. Use the first line from each of the first 10 songs in a piece or, e. All of the above or any combination thereof
47. Nuh Uh Write a piece that attempts to convince people that something utterly ridiculous is true (i.e. pineapples are really red if you squint hard enough)
48. Love Poem Stop waiting for someone to write you a love poem. Write the badass love poem you wish someone would write to you. No clichés, no filters.
49. Beautiful Words Another of my favorite corners of the internet sobadsogood.com recently posted an article called “100 Beautiful Words From The English Language That You Need To Use More” so guess what? We’re going to try to use them…not all of them of course. But pick a few that stand out to you and try to incorporate them into a poem. I copied the list below along with the definition for each word. The original article can be found here: http://sobadsogood.com/2015/03/19/100-beautiful-words-english-language-you-need-use-more/ Ailurophile A catlover. Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks.
Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word. Elixir A good potion.
Brood To think alone.
Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting. Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye.
Embrocation Rub bing on a lotion. Emollient A softener.
Comely Attractive.
Ephemeral Shortlived.
Conflate To blend together.
Epiphany A sudden revelation.
Cynosure A focal point of admiration.
Erstwhile At one time, for a time.
Dalliance A brief love affair.
Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable. Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time. Evocative Suggestive.
Demesne Dominion, territory.
Demure Shy and reserved. Denouement The resolution of a mystery.
Fetching Pretty.
Harbinger Messe nger with news of the future. Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern. Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation. Imbue To infuse, instill. Incipient Beginning, in an early stage. Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible. Ingénue A naïve young woman.
Mellifluous Sweet sounding.
Redolent Fragrant.
Moiety One of two equal parts.
Riparian By the bank of a stream.
Mondegreen A slip of the ear.
Ripple A very small wave.
Murmurous Murmuring. Nemesis An unconquerable archenemy. Offing The sea between the horizon and the offshore. Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning.
Scintilla A spark or very small thing. Sempiternal Eternal.
Inglenook A cozy nook by the hearth. Insouciance Blithe nonchalance. Inure To become jaded.
Opulent Lush, luxuriant.
Labyrinthine Twisting and turning. Lagniappe A special kind of gift.
Panoply A complete set.
Susquehanna A river in Pennsylvania.
Pastiche An art work combining materials from various sources.
Susurrous Whispering, hissing.
Palimpsest A manuscript written over earlier ones. Panacea A solution for all problems
Seraglio Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem. Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else. Summery Light, delicate or warm and sunny. Sumptuous Lush, luxurious. Surreptitious Secretive sneaky.
Desuetude Disuse. Desultory Slow, sluggish. Diaphanous Filmy. Dissemble Deceive. Dulcet Sweet, sugary. Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm. Effervescent Bubbly.
Efflorescence Flowering, blooming.
Felicity Pleasantness. Forbearance With holding response to provocation. Fugacious Fleeting. Furtive Shifty, sneaky. Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully. Glamour Beauty.
Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk. Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free.
Lagoon A small gulf or inlet. Languor Listlessness, inactivity. Lassitude Weariness, listlessness. Leisure Free time. Lilt To move musically or lively. Lissome Slender and graceful.
Penumbra A halfshadow. Petrichor The smell of earth after rain.
Talisman A good luck charm. Tintinnabulation Tinkling.
Plethora A large quantity.
Umbrella Protection from sun or rain.
Propinquity An inclination. Pyrrhic Successful with heavy losses
Untoward Unseemly, inappropriate. Vestigial In trace amounts.
Quintessential Most essential.
Wafture Waving.
Lithe Slender and flexible.
Ratatouille A spicy French stew.
Wherewithal The means.
Love Deep affection.
Ravel To knit or unknit.
Woebegone Sorrowful or downcast.
50. Starting Point Use any of the following phrases as a starting point: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
What is it you were expecting… Deleted text msg Things you carry A conspiracy theory What the walls heard Your escape route If you'd just done that one thing Letting go of his/her hand Soundtrack to a perfect moment Stealing things (in the abstract sense, like time or hearts)
51. What You Should Know Make a list of 10 words that have been used more than once to describe you. Set that list aside for a moment. Make a second list of 10 things you either wish people knew about you or, things people should know about you ahead of time (think about it in the context of getting to know someone. For example: you should know I'm a poet and if you hang around me long enough chances are I'll write a poem about you). Leave a space between each of the items on the second list. Now go back to list #1 and put “I am” in front of each word. Insert one of your “I am” lines in between each of the “things you should know”—that's your poem
52. Pills and Potions You’ve created a potion. However you skipped a key ingredient and it does the opposite of what it’s supposed to do. Use this as the basis of your piece
53. It’s a (Short) Story Write a poem around any of the following six-word stories:
We both pulled each other’s triggers. All of these poems are yours. Survivors have scars. Victims have graves You’re better than perfect… you’re flawed I’ll forget my name before yours And it ends just like that I’m done breaking myself on you Remind me that I chose this
54. What You Need Write a poem about what you need the most right now
55. Four letter words I got this prompt listening to a radio interview with poet Toni Asanti Lightfoot. Here are the instructions: 1. Below is a list of 4 letter words. Pick two. 2. Starting with one of those words, change ONE letter in that word to create a new four letter word. DO NOT ADD ADDITIONAL LETTERS 3. Keep doing this until word #1 becomes word #2. Ex: if your first word is NOTE and your second word is WORD, your list might look this (the letter switches are underlined): NOTE NODE CODE CORE CORD WORD 4. Take the list of words you've now created and use ALL of them in a poem-- they can appear anywhere in the piece, but use them in order. acid lens flow inch deck omen
jinx ajar limb girl heal bite
page drum memo palm envy rain
city gods knot spin cash tilt
exit wave face more hour bomb
56. Horoscopes For this you can use a newspaper or your favorite horoscope site (if you have one). Read through today’s horoscopes. Take the most interesting line or prediction from each sign and mash them up into a poem. You can go in any direction with this, but some ideas could be: a piece about advice you wish you’d taken but didn’t or, why you think horoscopes are fake
57. First World Problems Do you remember when you were a kid and your mother would say things like “Don’t waste that food, there are starving children…” Think of a major world issue. Now think of a “first world problem” related to the world issue you chose. For example, if you chose “poverty” as your world issue, your first world problem could be “I didn’t have enough on my debit card to buy that book, so I had to use cash.” Take your two ideas and juxtapose them in a piece—think of a jarring contrast between what you perceived as a problem versus the bigger issue
58. Garage Sale Imagine you’re at a garage sale, but it’s full of other people’s intangible stuff (true love that got away from them, memories they want to get rid of, advice they didn’t want…) What do you buy/not buy? What do you do with them?
59. Resume You’re going to write a poem in the form of a resume. But…it’s a dating resume. So your piece should be what makes you a good catch or, what you would like to see in a potential mate’s credentials
60. Person, Place, Thing Pick a person, a place and a thing from each of the columns below and use all three in a piece: PERSON An unrequited love A fake psychic A samurai A really creepy toddler Crazy cat lady A writer with OCD Someone with amnesia An archaeologist An overly chipper barista An old married couple A Chinese food delivery driver A tattoo artist A monk with an attitude 8th grade science teacher An assassin with you on their hit list A circus acrobat An aging star obsessed with making a comeback A super villain moonlighting in customer service A failed dictator
PLACE A murder mystery theater A stripper convention Inside someone else’s head Lost in suburbia Somewhere in the 90s An outsider art exhibit A mad scientist’s laboratory A moving train Narnia A public bathroom Post-apocalypse DC
A parallel universe Abandoned drive-in
THING A makeup bag VCR A bottle of poison A bag of all brown M&Ms A glass of red wine A pen with a mind of its own A fake i.d. The Book of the Dead A lit cigarette A violin missing the strings A light saber with an electrical short a kitten Book of matches An unopened letter from 1980 A fortune cookie with no fortune A cold cup of coffee Duct tape
The Garden of Eden
A tambourine
In line at the Apple Store
A camera that only shoots in black and white Tangled Christmas lights
A woman with 24 hours to live
Backseat of a police car
A secret government meeting A doughnut shop at 6am Waffle House parking lot A party that you just crashed
61. Revenge You have an opportunity to get revenge on someone who has wrong you with absolutely no consequences. Do you do it? and if so what happens as a result?
62. A Poem About Strangers When you’re in a public place, observe the people around you. Pick out someone who looks particularly interesting. Without being creepy of course, try to get a read on them. Pay attention to what kind of mood you perceive them to be in, then imagine what’s behind that—for example, if they’re smiling, what made them smile? Or does it seem like they’re covering something? Once you have some ideas in your head, write a letter poem to or about your stranger.
63. I Wanted… Start with the phrase “I wanted ___________ but what I got was _________” Fill in the blanks and write around it
64. Plan X You are putting together a plot for world domination, but you can only use the things that are within arms’ reach of where you are currently. How would you carry out your plans?
65. Plot Holes You Could Drive a Truck Through I pulled these from an epic reddit thread—below are plots for real movies summed up in 1-2 sentences. Choose one and write your piece. (If you’re curious to what the movies are, I footnoted them below—but don’t look until after you finish your piece.2 ) a. After witnessing the death of his father, a young nobleman leaves his home and lives with two hippies. Later he returns to seek vengeance. b. Homeless man rescues damsel in distress and becomes prince c. A man's wife and children are killed and his only surviving son gets kidnapped. He goes on an epic quest with the help of a mentally challenged woman d. The only thing he can remember is that his wife is dead. e. Giant alien robots have an epic death match for a cube f. After sleeping for 10 hours, they wake up on a plane having all had the same wild dream g. Calvin and Hobbes take a boat ride h. A woman goes from rags to riches with the help of some pretty kick ass shoes i. She murdered two people by accident essentially because Google Maps didn’t exist
66. Turn That Frown Upside Down Find a poem you’ve been working on that is done or mostly done (doesn’t have to be from 30/30, it could be one that you’ve had for a while). Read through it and get a sense of how you feel—is it a happy, uplifting poem or, a sad, morose poem? Whatever it is, you’re going to switch out the adjectives and descriptors in that piece for their exact opposite. Pull a thesaurus if you have to. If you started with a happy poem you are going to turn it into something so sad you might cry. But… don’t change the title.
67. Kali Ma Will Rule the World (Nerd alert: It’s an Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom reference…lol. If you’ve seen it you’ll get the joke when you read the prompt.) Reach in your chest. Take out your heart. What did it take for you to do it? What did it feel like? What does it look like? What are you going to do with it? Well go on…write a poem about it.
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a. The Lion King b. Aladdin c. Finding Nemo d. Memento e. Transformers f. Inception g. Life of Pi h. Cinderella i. the Wizard of Oz
Prompt 68: Thirty-something Write a poem about yourself with the same number of stanzas as years in your life.
Prompt 69: One for the road Write about your last road trip.
Prompt 70: Wish I'd Known That Sooner Write about things you wish you knew or wish you'd learned sooner in life.
Prompt 71: Warning Labels If you came with warning labels, what would they say?
Prompt 72: Broken Think about the last time you bought something that either didn't live up to your expectations or broke quickly. Use it as a metaphor for something else. Ex: I bought a new phone...two days in, I dropped it and cracked the screen. It was still less damaged than you were
Prompt 73: Chuck Palahniuk’s Thought Verb Challenge Write a poem **without** any of what Chuck Palahniuk calls “thought verbs”—no “think,” “feel, “believe,” “know,” “understand,” etc. Instead, replace those words with verb descriptions. For example, instead of “I thought he loved me,” you could write: “Every day for two weeks he left a rose on my bed. My heart fluttered like a young bird just learning to fly. One night I came home early from work and walked in on him kissing my roommate.”
Prompt 74: All the Feels How do you feel right now, in this exact moment? Write down one word to describe it. Now think of ten ways to describe how you feel without using the word for it. Somewhere in the piece talk about what you tell people or what people see versus how you actually feel. For example, I'm smiling but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm happy
Prompt 75: Obsession Write about something you're obsessed with (in a good way). Why are you obsessed with it? What happens when you have it?
Prompt 76: Fear Factor I'm challenging you to write the poem you've been afraid to write.
Prompt 77: Trying to Forget Write about a person or incident you’ve been trying to forget. As you write, take back the power they have over you.
Prompt 78: I Bet... Write from the perspective of someone who just lost a bet.
Prompt 79: Interesting Write a letter poem to the most interesting person you’ve ever met.
Prompt 80: Settling Write about where you would be if you had settled.
Prompt 81: No F**ks Given Write about who you think you’d be if you stopped caring about how others perceive you.
Prompt 82: Protection Think about the last time you had to protect something/someone. What did you do? What or who were you protecting it from? Why was it important/necessary?
Prompt 83. Litany A litany is a poem that resembles a prayer, wherein a single word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of each line. Write a litany. If you need a starter word, try: If, Whatever, Unless, or Finally.
Prompt 84. That Awkward Moment (This prompt is totally *not* based on real life events. LOL) Let the first line (or last) start with “that awkward moment when...”
Prompt 85. The Answer is BLUE Below is a list of “impossible” questions. You can either, choose one (or more) and write around it or come up with your own impossible questions as the basis for your poem
Why is it that if someone tells you that there are a billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint you will have to touch it to be sure? Why is “abbreviation” such a long word? If you ate pasta and antipasta, would you still be hungry? Isn't it even a little disquieting that the man who invests all your money is called a broker? Why do croutons come in airtight packages when it's just stale bread to begin with? I'm desperately trying to figure out why kamikaze pilots wore helmets. Is there another word for “synonym”? Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
Prompt 86. Dirty Dozen Set a timer for 12 minutes and use the following 12 words in a piece in any order (and because I’m an a**hole—all the words begin with “di” or “do”)
disheveled dichotomy diagram dictionary digress diabolic
doctor doubt document dogma domain downfall
Prompt 87. Instructions to the Artist Billy Collins has a poem called “Instructions to the Artist,” where he explains to an artist what he wants his portrait to look like. Try writing your own "instructions to the artist" or mix it up with instructions to the songwriter, rapper, sculptor, choreographer . . . whatever you like. Be demanding. Use your descriptions as metaphors for your personality.
Prompt 88. Come to Terms There are certain words, phrases, acronyms and slang terms I absolutely hate…despise…loathe. They are not only acoustically horrible and verbally atrocious, but they make absolutely no sense. Well, for this prompt, you’re going to think of a word, phrase or acronym that you hate and redefine it in a poem (per an informal Facebook survey the ones we hate the most are: THOT, Fleek, Ratchet, Keep it 100, Turnt up, YOLO, or nah, crae crae, bae)
Prompt 89. Next lifetime Turns out reincarnation is real. You get to choose how you come back—the only rule is, you can’t come back in your current form (meaning you can’t start over as yourself). What do you choose? What do you do different?
Prompt 90. The End Since this is the last prompt—let’s write about the end of something. Take it in any context… the end of an era, a friendship, a book, your (proverbial or literal) rope. However you choose to interpret “the end”
Until next year…