National Poetry Prompt Appreciation Day

Today is that day, according to an event announcement at facebook (I think you probably have to be a member to see this):

On the eve of National Poetry Prompt Appreciation Day, which Jay Robinson and I have just now declared, we are offering you a cornucopia of poetry exercises to jump start your writing.

I know that some people don't like prompts, and think you should rely on your own bad self for inspiration. But for those of us who need an assignment, or some kind of push, prompts are invaluable.

Would you like to join the celebration? If so, try your hand at a poetry prompt tomorrow, or share one with a friend, or the entire blogosphere / facebookosphere.

-- Mary Biddinger and Jay Robinson, Co-Editors-in-Chief of Barn Owl Review.

I like prompts. I use them, and, on occasion, I make some up. I made some up last night, when I should have been sleeping, but instead was listening to the thunderstorm.

If you write from any of these, leave a comment telling me which, and a link, and I'll bring the link up under the prompts so that we can all go visit the results.  I may use one or two of these myself.

1. Write a poem that includes three words beginning with O -- and no, those little two-letter words don't count. No names or abstractions (opportunity, only); they must be real things, like: octopus, orange, orangutan. Include one word beginning with Q, and -- oh yes -- twenty lines, please.
2. Write a rhymed sonnet, but put the rhymes at the beginning or middle, instead of the end, of lines. (I've no idea how this will work.)
3. Write a prose poem. What makes it a poem?
4. Image: the head of a daisy, just the head, on a green lawn.
5. Write a love poem without using the word love or any of its substitutes.
6. Write a poem about making something: a quilt, a building, a table, a cake. But not a poem.
7. Image: lightning and thunder from a clear sky.
8. Write a green poem.
9. If it's hot where you are, write a cold poem; if it's cold, write a hot poem.
10. Take the last ten poems you wrote. Beginning with the most recent, write the first line; from the next, the second line, and so on. If the next poem in order doesn't have enough lines, go back to the beginning and move forward until you reach one that does. When you're done, you have ten lines. Keeping them as much in order as possible, make a new poem.

You'll find lots of links to prompt sites here:      POETRY LINKS, and over the weekend I'll links here to participants in this 'event' as I find them, as well as links to poems that respond to the above prompts.