Writing prompts (blog post ending with a line by Shawna Lemay)

after Shawna Lemay

Write a poem about the rain. Or the wind.
Write about what you learned at university.
Or did not learn at school.
Write a list poem about what has disappointed you.
Write part two of that poem about the reasons you have to be happy.
Write in praise of your favourite possession.
Write about dancing with another being in your kitchen.
Write a really long title as the signpost to a one word poem.
Write in the voice of an abstract noun (silence, road rage, disenfranchisement).
Celebrate being alive.
Write about what everyone knows but no one is talking about.
Write a prayer.
Write in support of saving your favourite arts organisation.
Write about a painting.
Write about when you first heard jazz.
Write using at least three lines that you repeat throughout the poem (but not a villanelle or pantoum).
Write an open letter to a favourite poet, living or dead.
Write a poem whose first and last lines are exactly the same.
Re-write a Bible story.
Write about driving at night.
Pull out an old family photograph and write about it.
Discover an overlooked detail from a favourite painting.
Remember when you learned to drive?
Write a ten-line poem in which you tell the entire story of someone’s life.
Write about the time you looked into someone else’s apartment and glimpsed everything you needed to know.
Write a poem ending with the word ‘biscuit’.
A poem on poetry. You know you want to.
Sit at a table where other people have recently been talking. Write what you notice.
Your nationality has changed overnight.
Write about public events (without mentioning them).
Write about something you always carry with you.
Write about food.
Write about hospital.
Write about Grief.
Write about your spirituality.
Write a poem about writing prompts.

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[Final line taken from Asking by Shawna Lemay]