2025 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 3

Today's a big day! I know I've mentioned it before in previous challenges, but I've noticed that poets who can make it through day three of this challenge tend to have the best odds of making it all 30 days. So let's get at it!

For today’s prompt, take the phrase "How (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: "How to Write a Poem," "How the Heck Is This Even Possible?," "How Aerodynamics Really Works," "How Did They Know I Was Here," "How About Another Poem," and/or "Howl Into the Night Like a Werewolf Beneath the Full Moon."

Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. If you have a wild idea, follow it.

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Writer's Digest is celebrating our 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards with new categories and prizes. We’re looking for your best poems of 32 lines or fewer or un-published chapbooks 25 pages or fewer. Any form of poetry is eligible including epic, free verse, odes, pantoums, sonnets, villanelles, and even haiku. This is the only Writer’s Digest competition exclusively for poets. Win cash and an article about you in the July/August issue of Writer’s Digest.

Click to continue.

(Note: This is completely separate of the November PAD Chapbook Challenge.)

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Here’s my attempt at a "How (Blank)" Poem:

“How to Remember to Forget”

Find something—anything really—
to draw your attention, and then,
bend toward this new light like a moth
or flower, for the hour curls into
a new time-space continuum—
or something mathematically
similar—and if you try hard
enough, you really can forget—
at least, that is, until, of course,
you remember how once again.

2025 November PAD Chapbook Challenge

Robert Lee BrewerAuthor

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 Solving the World's Problems, 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.