Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 739
Every Wednesday, poets from around the world can find a Wednesday Poetry Prompt at Writer’s Digest. This week, write a machine poem.
For this week's prompt, write a machine poem. There are a variety of machines available that poets can write about or namedrop, including planes, trains, and automobiles, but also things like computers, smartphones, pencil sharpeners, drill presses, and more. We live in a world filled with machines. In fact, some people prefer to rage against them, even as they rely on them.
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 Machine Poem:
“Comfort Killers,” by Robert Lee Brewer
I spent a big part of my childhood
afraid of the machines around me,
thinking planes or cars might crash into
my house or fearing the brakes of my
bike might fail as I sailed down a hill,
maybe crushed by an oncoming train,
just as I worried about quicksand
or my appendix, all these dangers,
including the bomb, existed as
red herrings for the actual killers:
french fries, cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets,
and whatever I had for dessert.
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 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, 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.
