Poetry Fridays prompts
By Jen
- Write about a moment when you did something on your own for the first time.
- One morning, you wake up to discover that something in your life has declared its independence from you. Maybe it's your shadow, your reflection, your fear, your memories, your alarm clock, or even your own name. Write a poem about what happens next. Where does it go? Why did it leave? Do you celebrate its freedom, chase after it, or discover that you needed that separation all along? Explore independence as both a gift and a loss.
By Dennis Aguinaldo
- Write a dream poem where you are yourself but you're also in elementary school again. It's Show and Tell day! What surreal/dream-logic thing from your life do you share? What strange things do your classmates share?
- It's first day of school for you (or your child). The classroom is full, but these are not the expected classmates. Who—or what—is seated next to you?
By Lea Navaro
Warm-up
(1) Colors Choose a color that you love or despise, and write a poem defining/describing it through positive and/or negative imagery and emotions.
(2) Sounds Pick a non-verbal sound you hear throughout your day (e.g., the rhythmic hum of an old washing machine, someone's footfall going down the stairs, the creaking of a rusty metal gate, a neighbor dog's familiar howl), and build a poem around translating that sound into words.
Habagat/storms/transition
(1) Write a poem attributing a non-scientific origin to a storm (e.g., wind is actually a mischievous child, or thunder is the raging of a madman).
(2) Write a poem describing a sudden, irreversible moment of breaking (a snapped string, a shattered coffee cup, a voice cracking). Use this specific physical fracture to mirror a quiet, internal shift in your life.
by Homer Novicio
Suggested Exercises
- Inspired by real events: write a poem wherein a group of people stage a collective action (i.e, rally, strike, flash mob) to demand something surreal from the powers that be. For example: demanding that Mondays be wiped off the calendar so there will only be 4 working days; unearthing the remains of a prominent personality to rule over the land or to move the geographic location of a marginalized province in order to better access basic needs.
- A real-life character from the past or a fictional hero is brought to life in the present. What catches his/her attention? How does he compare it to his/her point of origin? Are all the changes bad? What would immediately make him/her stay or leave?
AMERICA
- Think of your first impression of America. Where did it come from? Can you reconstruct through your poem how distant or near it appeared in your young mind? What did you find most fascinating with it? You can focus on a single object or incident which ignited your curiosity, wonder, or contempt.
- There is that person in each family whose first-hand experience of America has somehow made it into the family lore. From that person’s point of view and based on what you’ve heard, make a poem of his or her version of America.