Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 659
For this week’s prompt, write a pain poem. There’s physical pain, of course, but also mental, emotional, and economic pain. People takes pains to achieve different goals. And in a “no pain, no gain” society, some pain is real while some is imagined (though it may all feel the same). Also, the pain tolerance of people differs for different types of pain. So take pains to write a pain poem this week.
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 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 Pain Poem:
“until the end,” by Robert Lee Brewer
it pains me to say this but
i wasn’t listening to your
fascinating anecdote about
that thing you explained so
cleverly it drew laughs & shrieks
from the others but i was staring
across the meadow at a hawk
flying low over the tall grass
& i found myself caught
thinking about the cycle
of life & death & the ability
to fly & the ability to hide
& how it all continues on
whether we pay attention
or not without end until the end