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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Here’s my attempt at a Large Poem:

“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.

wednesday poetry prompts

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.