Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 762

Before we get into today's Wednesday Poetry Prompt, I just want to remind everyone that we'll be starting the 18th Annual November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge on Saturday morning (November 1, 2025). Read the guidelines here (and see you then).

For this week's prompt, take the phrase "I Want (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 could include: "I Want to Be the Very Best," "I Want a Little Respect," "I Want Five Dollars," "I Want My MTV," and/or "I Want to Take a Moment for Myself."

Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them.

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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.

Click to continue.

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Here’s my attempt at an "I Want (blank)" Poem:

“I Want to Forget,” by Robert Lee Brewer

I want to forget the last thing I said
& the last thing she said & maybe
a few more things I said & of course
what she did after what I did & well
maybe we'd do it all over again but
at least for a moment in my ignorant
bliss I might actually do & say a thing
I wouldn't want to eventually take back.

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.