Poetry Prompts

Sometimes you want to write a poem but you can't think of anything to write about. Other, glorious times are quite different, the ideas are buzzing and the words are flowing. It happens all too rarely.

One idea to try when nothing seems to be prompting a poem to appear, is to look at the newspaper. Headlines can be intriguing and can be enough - you don't even have to read the article, and in fact it's less limiting if you have no idea what the story is about.

A good idea I heard about recently is to have a box where you cut out interesting things and put them in the box. Then, when no ideas are coming, just take a couple of ideas from the box and see what happens.

Of course, this won't make a poem happen immediately, but if you play around with the idea, something may pop up and away you go. I find inspiration from just sitting outside and watching what nature is up to.

Last night I saw domestic disputes amongst some sparrows, and some territorial issues were being sorted out by other birds too. I have written about birds quite a bit and I'm currently thinking about Hornets, because I've been challenged to write a poem about them.

That poem is still brewing and I know I need to start writing down the thought scraps flitting around in my head. Not writing ideas down is the biggest waste of poetic talents. So many great ideas arrive, only to disappear when we finally get around to working on them.

I could fill a poetry collection with the fantastic poems I never wrote! If only I could remember them.