2025 April PAD Challenge: Day 15
On the 15th day of the 2025 April Poem-A-Day Challenge, writers are challenged with the third Two-for-Tuesday prompt of the month.
Here we go: Halfway through the month and time for another Two-for-Tuesday prompt.
For the third Two-for-Tuesday prompt:
- Write a poetic form poem and/or...
- Write an anti-form poem.
I've mentioned a few poetic forms earlier this month, but here's a list of more than 150 poetic forms for you to explore. Or make it easy on yourself and just peruse this short list of short poetic forms.
If you don't feel like focusing on the poetic form (or shell) of a poem is enough of a prompt, write a poem that focuses on structures, forms, shells, shapes, etc. Have at it!
Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.
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Write a poem every single day of the year with Robert Lee Brewer's Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming. After sharing more than a thousand prompts and prompting thousands of poems for more than a decade, Brewer picked 365 of his favorite poetry prompts here.
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Here’s my attempt at a Poetic Form and/or Anti-Form Poem:
“Back Again,” by Robert Lee Brewer
In another world, a big star
anchors your heart to mine, a moon
made for lost lovers and poets
to translate across time and space
held fast by dark thoughts and matter
existing outside what we know
ceaselessly expanding past known
Oort clouds, galaxies, and dead stars
surrendering to what matters
most in the heart of every moon
orbiting bright bodies in space
singing songs like cosmic poets
invoking past lines of poets
aiming for the hearts of unknown
mazes measuring the spaces
that blaze like a night full of stars
hovering above a new moon
evolving like some dark matter
wasted on whatever matters
in the souls of forlorn poets
navigating curves of the moon
drawn against ancient maps of known
black holes trying to swallow stars
understanding the need for space
threading itself through still more space
that marks the dark like lost matter
holding a bell as if a star
anticipates dreams of poets
through dark memories that say, "No,
don't remember me like the moon
or analyze me like the moon;
no, I am winding through dead space
that once known cannot be unknown;
get to the heart of the matter
emitting sound waves for poets
to fling back at every new star
yearning for stars to light up moons
offering poets the space to
unknow what they know must matter."
(Note on my poem today: I decided to go big on my poetic form today as I wrote a combination sestina AND acrostic while maintaining eight syllables per line. A gold star to the first person who can decipher which song inspired the acrostic; the first line includes a rather big hint.)
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
