Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 755

Every Wednesday, poets from around the world can find a Wednesday Poetry Prompt at Writer’s Digest. This week, write a “When (blank)” poem.

For this week's prompt, take the phrase "When (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 include: "When in Rome," "When You Say So," "When the Mood Strikes Me," and/or "Whenever a Bell Rings."

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 When Blank Poem:

“When in a Library,” by Robert Lee Brewer

Find a book with that plastic that covers
the book cover. Read a few words, maybe
the back cover. Then, find a table, a nice
cozy spot to read. And write. And think
about the world. Consider your plans
for the day and send them down stream,
because there's nowhere as nice as these
rows and rows (and rows and rows) of
books and semi-silence (not complete
silence, but a nice considerate silence,
the kind that's not creepy but kind). Find
another book (there are many to choose)
and another. Consider taking some home.
What a miracle! To want to find a book,
something to read, and to be able to take
it home without paying and to be trusted
to return it before taking another and another.

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.