2023 April PAD Challenge: Day 30
Write a poem every day of April with the 2023 April Poem-A-Day Challenge. For today’s prompt, write a surprise poem.
(Quick update: I've just released the 2022 November PAD Chapbook Challenge results! Click here to check them out.)
Well, well; here we are again (or for the first time for some of you): Day 30! I'll admit that I was a little worn out at the beginning of the month and not sure how my poeming was going to go. But, as is usually the case, I surprised myself with some fun poems I can't wait to go back and play around with. I hope your month of poeming has left you with similar drafts!
For today's prompt, write a surprise poem. This prompt was actually changed at the last minute after reading Laura Shovan's "How the Neuroscience of Surprise Can Improve Your Poetry Practice," and it got me thinking about all the good and bad surprises we encounter on a daily (or almost daily) basis. Let's finish this month by focusing on one or three of those.
Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.
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Here’s my attempt at a Surprise Poem:
"i'm not surprised"
i'm not surprised
by the way you
always surprise
me every day
and i surmise
you'll stay that way
in my blue eyes
and i will stay
quite unsurprised
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.
