Prompts (2027 Book Preview)

Danielle Langin. 8 super inspiring poetry prompts!!. YouTube, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UVLo6gD4sc

Common Activity

The Knight upon the board
Eyes the bishop.
Dark square bishop,
The Knight's L.
Warfare, white and black.
The priest preaches his homilies
Subtly reminding the King of why
He goes to war...
The Knight compassing him;
The Queen is a tyrant
Burning the pawns,
Thrusting them into combat.
En Passant, side swiped by the soldiers'
Blade, thrust forward,
The fortresses espied,
The king retreats to it.
My finger feels the glazed wood;
The smell of the woods from the box
Like pine. Warfare on an eight by eight
Board is acceptable to me.

Write From the Perspective of an Inanimate Object

Am I this Pinocchio doll,
With the shoe unglued,
Falling off my foot?
When will I become a real boy?
I sit on the shelf, and ponder:
I come from a collection of them;
Some large, some small.
My nose a wooden triangle---
Does it grow? I know not.
I wish I knew... for I am driven mad
By ignorance.

Write a Poem from the First and Last Line of a Poem

"My first thought was, he lied in every word,"
Said Childe Harold upon his exodus.
Down flew the warriors, the scorpions come!
The whole world heard the Trumpet sound.
There he was, and I am here, you are there,
You go around and round, and I remain idle.
I tried my best, but I saw him behest
And blew. "Childe Harold to the Dark Tower came."

Dialogue with Another Poem

Am I pinochio, or Childe Harold
Sitting upon the liar's chair...
Or am I valuable sitting here,
Or sitting there?
Am I crazy, or am I sound?
I know not, nor if I'm renown.
On and on we go,
The women talk of Michelangelo,---
Am I Prufrock, or am I Death,
Am I Smerdis, or am I a mess?
Or am I a humble poet wise
Who simply wrote his poesy wild?

Poem From the Future to the Future

"I know not what you do,
"Or who you are.
"Only that I regret you.
"I am poor,
"And filled with doubts.
"Why did you have to try to shout?
"I have painful silence in my breast:
"I lay in prison, and wish for death."

I say to you,
"My friend, if you are so cowardly,
"Suffer a little for your hourly
"Wage, which you have bought.
"You either don't give up, or have no love.
"Push a little further still,
"Fate is not real, and God may still heal."

Ten Words I Love

My Aegis is righteousness;
My mien is amorous love.
I need real freedom.
My friend is Jesus, and His forgiveness is good,

Word of the Day

Have---
Out of 1 million words
In the English Language,
This simple word
Was the one chosen by a random prompt.
Have---

I'll have you soon;
I hope.

Use Words that Have Opposite Meanings

Truncated is my expectations;
Enlarged is my desire.
Infinite are my loves;
Infinitesimal is my apathy.
Life is bitter;
Death is sweet.
War is peace;
Freedom is slavery.
Long live what is already dead.
American Aloha,
The 22nd Amendment allows a third term...
For Democracy Trumps a Constitution. 

Creative Writing Club. List of Poetry Prompts. YouTube, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUPXf8JwsgU

Write a Poem About the Changing Seasons, and the Imagery they Invoke

Daffodils, Bluebells, Red Buds, Anemones, Mayapples, Geraniums
Such a season as this, sleepy trees make their buds and awaken.
Roses, Honeysuckle, Squash Flowers, Tiger Lilies, Chicories, 
A beautiful warmth, is Summer, the trees green, oaks, maples, hickories.
Sunflowers, Holly Flowers, Aster Flowers, Hibiscus and then the Phlox finally wilt.
The trees are fire, the junipers and cedars have their berries and sprigs.
Holly Berries, Rose Hips, Bare Trees and Icy Lakes,
There is a cool in winter, the evergreens with white glaze.

Describe a surreal or imaginary place using surreal imagery: The Faerie Wedding

The napkins were velvet,
Bound by strings of pearls
With diamonds sparkling in gold inlay.
The plates porcelain and crystal with gold leaf.
The cutlery vermeil, and supped
On figs, and grapes, and strawberries,
Smoked Salmon and Salami.
Two Eagles, a mating pair
Flew over the feast,
And a mockingbird sung in a cedar.
The children wore their brooch in hair
With diamond crust; the maidens in their silk dress.
The Fairy King, jovial, alighted on every table
To light the incense and off he flew in his three piece suit.
The tea kettle a silver pot, with golden legs...
Ambrosia, nectar, fruits of life.
The fae people, when finished with their meal
Tossed their plates into pits,
Where there, a rainbow fire
Sparkled, and consumed.

Craft a Poem that Explores Love in All its Forms

I enter into you, and feel you.
You feel me inside.
We bear a child,
And we together raise her,
And give her happiness.
Then, when she is grown
We find each other's company
Happy, and are filled with joy.
Then, when one of us dies,
For we will grow old,
We have love enough for everyone we meet.

Write a Tribute to Someone Who has Deeply Influenced My Life

Mr. Neifert, you raised me.
I am bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh.
I have the teeth to prove it.
You kept me sheltered
So I could do something great.
Not so I could conquer worlds
But I conquered myself.

Create a Poem that Captures the Essence of a Favorite Childhood Memory

Pappy, and Grandma, at your house I am safe.
I swim in the shallow pool, I kick my legs:
I am Godzilla fighting a tugboat.
The army men get knocked into the water,
The rubber snake a sea monster
And the rubber shark, too.

Write a Poem About the Beauty of the Night Sky and the Stars

Spring there are no constellations.
David is hidden in the West.
The Triune has yet to appear.
The Virgin and Bear are hid.
Goliath is slain, he does not appear.
Just a void of newness.

Explore the Themes of Resilience and Overcoming Challenges in a Poem

Once upon a time, there was a boy who could imagine anything.
And set to proof, he imagined all he could, and thought,
"I know, I shall make imagination my job."
Thus, he used his imagination every day, all his life.
Yet, there were thieves, robbers, murderers, scounderals
Outlaws, sheriffs, kings, even some gods if you knew
Who were against him in all that he did.
Thus, they came to him, and started altering
His world, just to prevent him from attaining his goal.
They changed his books, they changed his nation's laws
They changed his religion, they even changed the color of his eyes
From blue to green one day---for when he was sad
His seas would turn green, and this was how it was.
Thus, they went to war, just so this boy would be oppressed;
For he could imagine anything, you know?
They were jealous of this ability.
Then, one day, a great army surrounded his city.
And the King of the Army came, with grand pomp and splendor
And said, "Let me see the prince who resides here.
"Let me see him, the one who has caused great calamity upon the Earth."
Thus, they took the boy from his house, and drug him into the streets.
The boy looked guilty in the eyes of all the men who surrounded him
And he finally met his day. Yet, the Boy smiled, and his eyes glistened.
They tortured him for thirty years, in the dungeons of their chambers.
He was sad, pained, in something like hell.
All because he could imagine anything.
And for eternity they tortured him in that dungeon it seemed.
Then they took him out, when he was old and gray
And his visage beautiful.
And they twisted his heart to such evil desires:
And he destroyed all he touched, for they poisoned him with hate.
All because he could imagine anything.
They wanted him to rule the world,
And be strong and a champion.
That they made him, turning his frail body into a chisel.
And he destroyed, from East to West, now the General
Leading the war.
Do you think this just?

Write a Poem Inspired By a Piece of Artwork or Photograph

Little girl, looking up at your grandpa,
As he reads Martyr's Mirror.
His old, Socrates like face,
Bald, and bearded, and gray;
Happy, little cherub look up,
Smartly framed by the book
And his right arm.
Just a cherub face,
So happy. Peace.

Describe a Journey of a River, from its Source to the Sea, using Personification

The great grasshopper dug, fluttering, making Otsego Lake
And there he drug his body down, where another great grasshopper
Dug, from Elmora. The two met in Sunbury, 
The one a male and the other a female.
And there they nested and laid their eggs.
Only one egg survived and hatched, and thus, he also drug his body
Down to the Chesapeake Bay.
A mighty rain came, and filled it all up with water.
And it was called the River of the Muddy People since;
For people lived there, where the three great grasshoppers
Drug their bellies, and carved it out a mile wide;
And the people sloughed through the banks
To make pottery from the Red Clay.

Craft a Poem about the Power and Significance of Words and Language

Modern Mythographers doubt, why do there need to be gods?
Why can't the Greeks and East Indians be seen as fiction?
We have no soul, and no imagination.
Does there need to be belief, to make a mythology?
Or can we just freely create now?
Does every fancy need to become a religion?
Or can we simply live, and understand,
By the power of the tongue?
Know I am a Christian Man, and very European.
I know one myth to be true, but why can't the countless
Others be enjoyed? More importantly,
Why can't the true myths of the world be enjoyed, too?
Can we not understand, even without believing?
For so many believe, without understanding.


Charles R. Smith Jr.. 3 Quick Poetry Prompts. YouTube, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJa_abG6aRc

Objects in My Room

Sits, my famed hexagonal fish tank---
Famed? Is it famed? Someday soon, maybe.
The blue and salmon afghans knit by my Mimi.
The Chess Table, it sits within three borders
One with alternating slanted parallelograms
Carpented by a friend of the family, named Robert Haefer Sr.
The big purple vase sits, with plastic stems and flowers
An inheritance from my Nanny.
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane hangs
With a palm leaf from palm sunday behind it;
An Old Family Heirloom handed down by my Nana.
Behind me, as I sit on my Olive Green La-Z-Boy
Rocking steadily and relaxed,
Are portraits, paintings and a needlepoint of Norman Rockwell
Knit by my Aunt Bob-Bob, from a Magazine.
Such is the wealth of the lower middle class in America.

A Lot of Alliteration

Tip to me the truth, and take my tantrum to task;
Too many trials have taken to my temples
And try to triturate the thronging thump
I tell you the truth... tell me the truth.
Too tall is the triumph, too tormented are my tongues
Of telling truth. Yet, tell truth, and take my toil
Truly,---treasures will start to trickle from towers of tales.

Color Swatches

The sable boy told his truth,
And took the greige sword
And slit the Chok, drawing dragon's blood
Ichor from its veins.
Ponceau rays flooded the sky
As the clouds, with streaks of gamboge
Lighting from the outline of the sun,
Broke, in that moment.
Lovat was the environs around the world
Until the clouds brake.
And then, all was bright again.

Lyric Lab Poetry. Poetry Prompts for Groups & Workshops. YouTube, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaLP62MoX_E

Write About Heartbreak, in Unconnected Verse

Failure, he is inferior in quality, but a much better person.
The girl of my dreams catches me urinating on the park path.
5,000,000 true words, 12,300 pages, nobody cares.
Spat in the mouth for caring too much---so I swallowed.
I did the right thing, but nobody applauded. Rather, they sighed.
People I knew for my entire life hate me now for what I did as a child.
Likewise, everyone loved me as a child---when I was cruel---but not now that I am better.
Anneken sat in prison for 50 years, her entire life burned. She was then drowned. She just had different beliefs.
A little dog that had 5 homes, when he wanted to go back to his best, he was told no.
A good woman in a retirement home, contracted MRSA and was thrust against the headboard as her socks were put on.
A good nation, under God, elected a tyrant.

Cento

The women come and go, talking of Michelangelo,
And I, I took the path less travelled.
Call me Ishmael,
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings
"Look on my mighty works and despair!"
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Anneken was put in prison for 50 years, her property burned, and she was drowned.
Prufrock "I grow old ... I grow old ...
"I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
"We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
"By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
"Till human voices wake us, and we drown."

Call and Response

I cried to her,
"Who art thou, to call me?"
She responded,
"Thou art Romeo, and I thy Juliet:
"We danced the dance, and never met again.
"I take the High Road, and You Take the Low Road;
"In our dreams we met...
"Only in our dreams."

Emily Butler. How To Write a Poem (with prompts!). YouTube, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE3mEValKIo

Interesting Fact

Sin, according to a clay tablet 
Made during the reign of Nabonidus,
Was raised to the top of the pantheon.
To worship Sin, one must
Send their virgin daughters
To the Temple, to be deflowered.
Nobody liked this---
For as his name, "Sin"
It is abborant to humankind.
Thus, Cyrus used the distress
To subtly enter Babylon,
And slay the nobles.
As the Bible said He would,
200 years prior.

Concept + Setting

Bel stands in his place---
The beautiful virgin there
Bare chested, the foul man
Found her. He made love.
Daniel was repulsed,
And prayed to God.
Bel fell, and his priests
Were then discovered;
Those who ate the food
Offered to the idol.
There was no power.
It was all man.

Noun + Noun + Emotion

Daniel prayed in the house
Toward the East, where Zion
His Bride, awaited.
She was beautiful,
Tall, cherry hair,
Her mouth like apples.
He would never have her
In this world...
Thus, he awaited.

Use Words with Only the Verbs from a Poem

I spread my news,
And followed the Shepherd...
I a sheep---I asked
To go to pasture,
And the Shepherd will say,
"You have."

Habit Breaking

Two lizards were on rug,
They wanted to have a hug...
One a girl, the other a boy
And then he climbed to have a hump.


Pocket of Poetry. Let's Write Poetry! // Poem Prompts & Exercises to Get You Writing. YouTube, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHmh2IVDflI

Write a Haiku

My dad sits in front
Of our fish tank. Wonder fills his
Brow. Innocent plaid.

Rhyme Scheme  AABBC

Wooden cherries sit
Upon the tree's stick;
The samaras fall
And so 'tis autumn.
Leaves; walnuts ferment.

Write in Iambic Pentameter

The leaves will smell like musk of maiden's scent.
The road I walk, it seems as heaven sent.
The trees all have their leaves of fire-green.
I cheer at last when Sycamores are seen:
Their bark is white and gray, the fruit is barbed;
I walk on yonder path, and wander far.

The Smell of my First Heartbreak

A school cafeteria's medicinal odor
Was that day I lost my first.
Like being in the hospital wing
Where the cafeteria wafts of cheap food
Cooking, a thousand ways, unpleasant
Bland, but not too unpleasant.
Broccoli, bad pizza, stale desserts,
Jell-o, dull chocolates and fruit cups.
It was healthy though, the amputation
Of a possible gangrene, which could
Have rotted me away at my core.

Write About the Taste of a Childhood Memory

Blue Raspberry... Blueberry lollipops...
Jawbreakers, Baby Bottle Pops.
Giant Candy Canes, and Candy Cigarettes.
Jewelry Candy and my it was the best.
Pleasures all the time, and the taste of Lucky Charms;
Trix Cereal and Kix and also Captain Crunch I chomped.

Color of Someone I Know

When I think of myself, what color I am,
I think the Purple of a Rainbow,
And let all understand.
It is not gay, nor queer, nor any such thing.
It is just colors are my favorite sort of thing.
For it is a Promise to Noah and is from God,
I was destroyed only once, so one day will find love.

©2026 B. K. Neifert
All Rights Reserved