2024 April PAD Challenge: Day 17

Write a poem every day of April with the 2024 April Poem-A-Day Challenge. For today’s prompt, write a Not Blank poem.

For today's prompt, take the phrase "Not (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: "Not the Only One," "Not Like This," "Not Without Eating One More Piece of Pie," and/or "Not Sure What I Was Saying."

Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.

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Later this month, be sure to check out the 3rd 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.

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Here’s my attempt at a Not Blank Poem:

"Not Without Consequence"

intentions are a fragile crutch
i've set upon a dusty hutch
within a room that gets poor light
so days look similar to nights

and without time to keep me close
i loose the pulse of former ghosts
that haunt me when the wind blows right
through my intentions like a knife

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.