Every Wednesday, Robert Lee Brewer shares a prompt and an example poem to get things started on the Poetic Asides blog. This week, write a waste poem.
For today’s prompt, write a waste poem. Maybe the poem is about wasteful spending or toxic waste. Or maybe your poem deals with a wasted moment, which could be a bad thing...but also a good thing if you're wasting time in the right context, right? Of course, the poem could also include waste that is recycled or re-used in a positive way too.
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Poem Your Days Away!
Online poetry prompts are great! But where can you get your poem fix when you unplug? The answer is the Smash Poetry Journal, by Robert Lee Brewer.
This book collects 125 poetry prompts from the Poetic Asides blog, gives poets plenty of room to write poems, and a lot of other great poetic information. Perfectly sized to carry in a backpack or purse, you can jot down ideas for poems as you’re waiting in line for a morning coffee or take it to the park for a breezy afternoon writing session (or on a bus, at a laundromat, or about anywhere else you can imagine–except under water, unless you’re in a submarine or a giant breathable plastic bubble).
Anyway, it’s great for prompting poems, and you should order a copy today. (Maybe order an extra one as a gift for a friend.)
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Here’s my attempt at a Waste Poem:
“Summer Waste”
Lay waste to the days of summer to come
and let the endless beat of summer hum
like a band that plays with or without drums.
We will fall into the heart of the heart
of our souls and praise our falling as art
even if it's only a remnant part
of a dream we dreamed in the beginning
when love was a fun game we were winning,
clasping our hands and kissing and grinning.
We fell and fell as a matter of taste
in and out with a foolish sense of haste
because time's always better when we waste.
