2025 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 6
For the 2025 November PAD Chapbook Challenge, poets write a poem a day in the month of November. Day 6 is to write a principle poem.
For today’s prompt, write a poem inspired by a principle you really care about. A few examples of principles might include "thriftiness," "punctuality," "honesty," or believing in concepts like "do no harm" or "the golden rule." Of course, there's also the principle of gravity, legal principles (like "due process" and "separation of powers"), and the pleasure principle. Trust me, a few minutes alone with Google will send you down a principled rabbit hole. And when I say the principle is one "you really care about," it doesn't mean you agree with the principle; so feel free to be contrary if the mood strikes.
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.
(Note: This is completely separate of the November PAD Chapbook Challenge.)
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Here’s my attempt at a Principle Poem:
“The Principle of Sufficient Reason”
If there's a snake curled up in your path,
it must be there for a reason; maybe
an enemy (or some minor god, as
in mythic times) placed it for you to find
like some present presently waiting
for your foot to open it, or, perchance,
the snake wandered freely to this spot
on its way to a nearby creek or pond
or pile of stones waiting to be picked
up and sent flying through an open window.
