2023 April PAD Challenge: Day 10
Write a poem every day of April with the 2023 April Poem-A-Day Challenge. For today’s prompt, write a How Blank poem.
After today, we'll be 1/3 of the way through this challenge already. Where does the time go?
For today's prompt, take the phrase "How (blank)," replace the blank with a new word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Possible titles might include: "How to Jump Up and Down," "How the Murder Mystery Ends," "How the Weather Behaves in Georgia," and/or "How Much Candy Should I Eat on a Holiday That Has a Lot of Candy to Eat."
Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.
Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new account, verify your account on this site below (one-time thing), and then comment away. It's free, easy, and the comments (for the most part) don't require manual approval like on the old site.
*****
Later this month, be sure to check out the 2nd annual Writer's Digest Poetry Writing Virtual Conference with four great presentations put on by award-winning poets covering a variety of topics, including how to put together poetry collections and bring fresh insight to familiar ideas.
*****
Here’s my attempt at a How Blank Poem:
"how poems are made"
start with a word
and work your way
slowly to a metaphor
before they (the readers)
know what's coming
because the poem
is a house haunted
by the thoughts
hidden under sheets
in the attic and crawl
space of your mind
like a poem by ferlinghetti
describing a painting
with the howls of a million
starving artists wandering
the streets of our souls
as a cardinal darts from
branch to branch of the tree
that connects us all
stumbling in the darkness
searching for the light
shining through a window
that is a poem
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.
