2024 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 16
For the 2024 November PAD Chapbook Challenge, poets are tasked with writing a poem a day in the month of November before assembling a chapbook manuscript in the month of December. Day 16 is to write a “Poem for (blank)” poem.
For today’s prompt, take the phrase "Poem for (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: "Poem for the Moon," "Poem for My Parents," "Poem for a Rainy Day," "Poem for Mike Tyson," and/or "Poem for Procrastinating on Folding the Laundry (Again)."
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 hundreds of 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 Poem for Blank Poem:
“Poem for One Who Doesn't Like Poetry,” by Robert Lee Brewer
Let's pretend, for a moment anyway,
that this is not a poem. Instead, say
it's a weather report or transmission
from another planet or dimension.
Imagine, if you will, it's important
to comprehend the meaning and to want
a structure you can't see, but maybe feel--
and maybe, just maybe, that makes it real,
this poem that's not a poem but is
and a poem lover who hates the biz.
I'm not saying you don't hate poetry;
who knows? It is possible that you do.
But if singing song lyrics sets you free,
it's hard for me to pretend that is true.
(Note on this poem: This poem was inspired by a recent Facebook status update by poet Joseph Mills about an audience member who liked his poems, even though the audience member also claimed to not like poetry.)
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.
