Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 759

Before we get into this week's prompt, I just wanted to make sure everyone saw the announcement for the 18th annual November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge, which will begin on November 1. Click here to learn more.

For this week's prompt, write a large poem. A few weeks ago, I tasked poets with writing a small poem. So this prompt takes it back the other way. Think big, gigantic, large. The poem could still be as concise as a haiku, but maybe it features a giant sequoia tree...or an XL t-shirt. Or maybe the poem itself runs on for 50+ lines

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.

Click to continue.

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“One Poem in a Large City,” by Robert Lee Brewer

A few pieces of paper ripped from a yellow legal pad
and folded over several times hold the random lines
I scrawl as I prowl sidewalks littered with people sleeping
on benches or tucked up against the sides of buildings
as if they're lifelike statues and I notice but try not to notice
because what can I do when I'm surrounded by so many
discarded poets filled with stories and pain and hopes
dashed and anyway I want to write about the lights
and sounds and smells of the city as if there could be
one poem to capture a million lonely poems tonight.