2024 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 29
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 29 is to write a frustration poem.
For today’s prompt, write a frustration poem. I didn't think about it before the month began, but this may be one of the most appropriate days for a frustration poem in the States, because it falls on Black Friday (when so many frustrated shoppers have to deal with congested traffic, aggressive sales, and more). But, of course, frustration is reserved for more than commerce; people can be frustrated by zippers that won't zip, thoughts that won't quit haunting them, and poems that won't be written.
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 Frustration Poem:
“Straw,” by Robert Lee Brewer
There's only so much a sane man can take
before he finds he can't take anymore.
Eventually even a saint can break,
because there's only so much one can take,
especially when so much is at stake.
Sorry to repeat: I don't want to bore,
but there's only so much a man can take
before he finds he can't take anymore.
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.
