The Poetry Marathon

Home stretch now!

Write a poem about an imaginary pet or person. The poem can be from your perspective, the perspective of a neutral third party, or from the perspective of the imaginary pet or person themselves.

You are almost there. I’m sorry, this is the hardest part, but I think it’s time for another image prompt. Please choose one of the following images and write a poem inspired by it. All but the second image are from Unsplash (the second one I took), all are free to use however you wish.

Write a poem about what you are longing for most right now.

Because it’s probably very dark out right now for most of the participants, the prompt for this hour is to write a poem involving light of any kind, from the sun, to a lamp to a candle.

This prompt is based on an idea from Danielle Wong.

Below are two images of a Siphonophore Apolemia. It is an animal that actually is made up of hundreds of animals that clone themselves; the scientists had thought that together they float around and wait to catch food, but they now know they are capable of hunting.

There’s an article about them if you want to learn more:https://globalnews.ca/news/6799525/jellyfish-string-creature/?utm_medium=Facebook&utm_source=GlobalNews&fbclid=IwAR2bdLbQz0STcPCUfW_ZGrpaWwn-Mj8mXtDUVlXkMHTTz4jeEAzRGz57ORw

You can use this either as an image prompt, jumping off the image below to write a poem, or you can write about what it’s like to be one small part of something bigger.

Write a narrative poem set during a holiday. It could be a poem based on your own lived experience or it could be an imagined event. A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story, but the story does not have to be compete, nor does it have to be told in a linear way.

Write a poem about a form of technology that is obsolete or is headed that way. The technology could just be referred to in passing, like a telephone booth, or it could be a CD that is the focal point of the poem. The degree of focus on the obsolete technology is up to you.

Write a poem about love, without ever using the word love in it.

There are very few poems about air travel, even though there are a lot about driving, train travel, and subway commuting.

Your prompt this hour is to write a poem about a plane trip.

In her wonderful book Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer writes — ‘In some Native languages the term for plants translates to “those who take care of us.’

Use any part of this quote (with credit), or the ideas it contains as a jumping off point for your poem this hour.

If you have a hard time connecting with this quote here are two others, also by Robin Wall Kimmerer, to consider.

“The land knows you, even when you are lost.”